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hillbillyhippiemusicreview · 4 years

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Post #63, MarDe Brooks--Running Out of Time

Reviewed by Lyssa Culbertson

“Way back on the radio dial The fire got lit inside a bright-eyed child Every note just wrapped around his soul From steel guitars, to Memphis, all the way to rock and roll” -Eli Young Band

Every time I hear “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” by the Eli Young Band pass through my playlist, my mind cannot help but wander to the trajectory HHMR alum MarDe Brooks has had over the past couple of years. It is impressive what an ample amount of hard work, determination, faith, and if we are honest, an iota of craziness will manifest when it comes to chasing dreams. If you are unfamiliar with MarDe’s story, let me fill you in:

The Alabama born and bred singer-songwriter recently released his debut album, Running Out of Time, after a lifetime of desire to share his musical gifts with the world. Perhaps the album title is a nod to the notion of growing older and time slipping away, leaving you with no choice but to shelve your dreams or take a chance and live them with all you’ve got—but MarDe need not worry. With the impeccable artistry he possesses and a knack for heartfelt, honest songwriting, we’ll be hearing more out of him for years to come. With an practically permanent smile as wide as the Rio Grande and an electric energy radiating from him every time he steps on stage, he possesses an often unmatched zeal for his work that will surely keep him on everyone’s radar. His sound is as eclectic as he is, and that is the utmost compliment in my book. As I said in the review of his first single, “Memories,” MarDe cannot be caged by a genre, for this powerhouse of a songbird sings to the tune of whatever is in his heart—whether that’s a slow sentimental ballad about life on the road, or a rockin’ up-tempo song about love gone wrong. Running Out of Time has something to love for everyone, but odds are you’ll love it from the beginning of the “Memories” you’ll make whilst listening, to the last “Curtain Call.” Answering the desires of his soul to create his own original music, the collection of ten songs were written and composed in just under a year, and within the next year the record was recorded and MarDe hit the highway sharing his stories with anyone who would listen. On September 11, 2020, he added fuel to the fire that got lit inside the bright-eyed child of his youth when he debuted his first album to the world.

When listening to this record both as a whole and dissecting each individual song, it’s quite easy to hear the various musical influences that have helped shape MarDe into the artist he is. However, he infuses those notes of blues, old time rock-and-roll, country, southern rock, folk, and more into sound all his own. The first track on the record, “Memories,” incorporates all of these styles in a up-beat tune set against a bit of a dark subject matter. A failed relationship takes its toll and leads to self-destruction, but if you only listen to the melody, you wouldn’t have a clue. I love how MarDe plays a lyrical and musical trick on the listener’s ear on this one, and it was a solid first choice for a single release, as it showcases both his songwriting ability and musicality. Heading to the opposite end of the romantic spectrum, the next track, “Slow Time,” is a beautiful ballad that will transport you back to a time to when life ran at a slower pace, perhaps on the riverbank next to a loved one watching the summer clouds roll in, where nothing but the love you were in mattered. Speaking of rolling in, “I’ve Got Memphis” is one of the standouts on the record, as it details the feelings of a traveling musician counting the miles wearing on both the road and his soul. As a music lover with a heavy dose of Gypsy in my soul, when MarDe sings “Oklahoma calls out to me, and I miss that Kentucky high, I’d love to stay in Alabama, but I’ve got Memphis tomorrow night,” it resonates with me on a spiritual level. I love the sound of four wheels spinning down an open highway, but occasionally every mile marker makes me weary and I just want to be home, though there’s always another show down the road and work to be done. It’s a sentimental tune about the highs and lows of this life and is just so powerful. Track number four, “Down the Road,” happens to be one of my favorites off the record—it’s a total jam with an infectious groove that just won’t let go, much like how he bemuses the difficulty of letting go of his beloved and moving on in the tune. The way he once again juxtaposes an upbeat melody with a somewhat somber subject matter intrigued me from the first verse of the song, and I was hooked. We’ve all been there—in love with someone that it kills us to let go of, though we know we’re better off leaving them in our rearview. I admire how MarDe can write about real life situations with such clarity and cleverness.

As evidenced by the previous tracks mentioned, MarDe has such a versatile voice where one moment he can have you high on life singing along and the next morose and feeling every bit of heartache his vocals are seeped with on a song like “Home,” one of the most compelling works on the album. The imagery is quite vivid, as you can easily picture the man in the song with his “hands on the sink, face down to the floor” ruminating over his life. As I’ve listened to this song, it dawned on me that the character in the song was not simply speaking to a lost lover, but to the man in the mirror as well, because all too often we can break our own hearts by our choices with the aid of the demons we face. For many, alcohol can be one of those demons; however, as shown by MarDe’s joyful vibes in “Fifth by Noon,” sometimes it can be just the cure a man needs to patch up a broken heart. This tune is my favorite to see performed live because of the energy MarDe harnesses as he brings the song to life. A little ditty about the healing powers found in a fifth of your favorite whisky and good friends, the line “everything will be alright if I down a fifth by noon” has the possibility to become an adage for centuries to come. Likely not the wisest piece of advice, but one most can certainly empathize with if we’re honest. When he sings “I used to lay you down like Conway at night, but now you’re out there girl and you’re making different music tonight, so here’s an idea, why don’t you stay, yeah that’s where you made you made your bed and that’s where you can lay” it’s loud and clear how he feels about the woman in question—and I’m absolutely here for it. Such a killer, feisty verse that makes me cackle as I belt it out every time! The guitar solo prefacing the semi-acapella portion of the song backed by a chorus of voices and a drumline are my favorite parts of the song because it drives the point home and is so fun to jam out to.

Reflecting back on the record to this point, it’s easy to see the thematic presence of sorrow woven throughout the lyrics. Despite the best efforts we tend to put into anything in life, what we deserve is not always what the universe sends our way. Track number seven, “Earned,” is a prime lyrical example of that fact, especially in relation to futile relationships we may feel that we got the short end of the stick in, so to speak, because “even if you do things the right way, you don’t always get what is earned.” A heart is a fragile thing, and love is even more delicate, as heard in “On My Way.” MarDe croons “rules are made to be broken, but hearts aren’t the same, so many words left unspoken, could have silenced the pain” to a lover he’s leaving behind—and that is such a poignant line about the importance of communication. Quite frequently, it’s the words we do not say that could salvage important connections or bring closure to difficult goodbyes. His voice is soft and melodic on this tune, highlighting every bit of emotion involved, notably when he sings in the bridge “I couldn’t see through the flames when I promised my life, but all that smoke cleared just in time.” Every time I hear that particular lyric a single tear escapes my eye because I’ve lived that line and the emotions connected are just so painful—It hurts so good.

Although words sometimes possess the power to save relationships, they also have the power to destroy them. In the case of “Liar,” MarDe appears to be addressing a friend or mentor, rather than a past lover. “Your lies won’t let you tell the truth, you looked down on me, I looked up to you, you dig your hole try to pull me in the ground, you had your chance but it’s all over now”—WOW. In spite of the rather calm melody, the anger and disappointment boils over in every verse of this good riddance themed song, as he’s “on [his] way to the top now, and you can’t slow [him] down.” I often lightheartedly—but seriously—joke that people should not do wrong by a songwriter, because a song will inevitably be written about the offense, and “Liar” is a prime example of that, tying into the seemingly autobiographical journey MarDe details in the final song on the record, aptly titled “Curtain Call.” It’s a beautiful summation of his ride from the aforementioned bright-eyed dreamer of his youth to the man he is now, steadily achieving lifelong goals—while the highs and lows ebbed and flowed and it wasn’t always easy, the journey was without a doubt worth it, as evidenced by the quality and ultimate success of his first release.

MarDe either wrote or co-wrote every song on Running Out of Time and rounded up a group of gifted musicians to record the album at Rose City Recording in Charleston, WV with producer Greg McGowan. With a heavy dose of the keys, the lead/rhythm guitar, mandolin, violin, bass, drums, and pedal steel played by (in no particular order) musicians Jerimiah Hatfield, Joey Lafferty, Mark Cline Bates, Jeremy “Wood” Roberts, Eric Robbins, David McGuire, Molly Lynn Page, Travis Egnor, and MarDe himself, this record is a unique work of art, reflective of the array of musical styles that encompass the artist MarDe Brooks is. The support from background vocalists Ritch Henderson, Eric Robbins, Jerimiah Hatfield, and Mark Cline Bates adds a spark to each track they are featured on. My only critique of the record is that you cannot truly hear the extent of the passion and range MarDe possesses behind his vocals, as that essence can only be captured live—which is why you must catch him a live show, soon! You can find tour dates, merch, and other important info at www.mardebrooks.com, or you can follow him on Facebook at MarDe Brooks and on Instagram at @mardebrooksmusic.

Peace, love, & music,

Lyssa

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*This is an independent review. The Hillbilly Hippie Music Review was not compensated for this review.

*The opinions expressed are solely that of the author(s).

*These images are not ours, nor do we claim them in any way. They are copyrighted by MarDe Brooks & Jimbo Valentine of Amalgam United.

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grigori77 · 4 years

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2019 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 1)

30. GLASS – back in 2000, I went from liking the work of The Sixth Sense’s writer-director M. Night Shyamalan to becoming a genuine FAN thanks to his sneakily revisionist deconstruction of superhero tropes, Unbreakable. It’s STILL my favourite film of his to date, and one of my Top Ten superhero movies EVER, not just a fascinating examination of the mechanics of the genre but also a very satisfying screen origin story – needless to say I’m one of MANY fans who’ve spent nearly two decades holding out hope for a sequel. Flash forward to 2016 and Shyamalan’s long-overdue return-to-form sleeper hit, Split, which not only finally put his career back on course but also dropped a particularly killer end twist by actually being that very sequel. Needless to say 2019 was the year we FINALLY got our PROPER reward for all our patience – Glass is the TRUE continuation of the Unbreakable universe and the closer of a long-intended trilogy. Turns out, though, that it’s also his most CONTROVERSIAL film for YEARS, dividing audiences and critics alike with its unapologetically polarizing plot and execution – I guess that, after a decade of MCU and a powerhouse trilogy of Batman movies from Chris Nolan, we were expecting an epic, explosive action-fest to close things out, but that means we forgot exactly what it is about Shyamalan we got to love so much, namely his unerring ability to subvert and deconstruct whatever genre he’s playing around in. And he really doesn’t DO spectacle, does he? That said, this film is still a surprisingly BIG, sprawling piece of work, even if it the action is, for the most part, MUCH more internalised than most superhero movies. Not wanting to drop any major spoilers on the few who still haven’t seen it, I won’t give away any major plot points, suffice to say that ALL the major players from both Unbreakable and Split have returned – former security guard David Dunn (Bruce Willis) has spent the past nineteen years exploring his super-strength and near-invulnerability while keeping Philadelphia marginally safer as hooded vigilante the Overseer, and the latest target of his crime-fighting crusade is Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), the vessel of 24 split personalities collectively known as the Horde, who’s continuing his cannibalistic serial-murder spree through the streets. Both are being hunted by the police, as well as Dr. Ellie Staple (series newcomer Sarah Paulson), a clinical psychiatrist specialising in treating individuals who suffer the delusional belief that they’re superheroes, her project also encompassing David’s former mentor-turned-nemesis Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), the eponymous Mr. Glass, whose life-long suffering from a crippling bone disease that makes his body dangerously fragile has done nothing to blunt the genius-level intellect that’s made him a ruthlessly accomplished criminal mastermind. How these remarkable individuals are brought together makes for fascinating viewing, and while it may be a good deal slower and talkier than some might have preferred, this is still VERY MUCH the Shyamalan we first came to admire – fiendishly inventive, slow-burn suspenseful and absolutely DRIPPING with cool earworm dialogue, his characteristically mischievous sense of humour still present and correct, and he’s retained that unswerving ability to wrong-foot us at every turn, right up to one of his most surprising twist endings to date. The cast are, as ever, on fire, the returning hands all superb while those new to the universe easily measure up to the quality of talent on display – Willis and Jackson are, as you’d expect, PERFECT throughout, brilliantly building on the incredibly solid groundwork laid in Unbreakable, while it’s a huge pleasure to see Anya Taylor-Joy, Spencer Treat Clark (a fine actor we don’t see NEARLY enough of, in my opinion) and Charlayne Woodard get MUCH bigger, more prominent roles this time out, while Paulson delivers an understated but frequently mesmerising turn as the ultimate unshakable sceptic. As with Split, however, the film is comprehensively stolen by McAvoy, whose truly chameleonic performance actually manages to eclipse its predecessor in its levels of sheer genius. Altogether this is another sure-footed step in the right direction for a director who’s finally regained his singular auteur prowess – say what you will about that ending, but it certainly is a game-changer, as boldly revisionist as anything that’s preceded it and therefore, in my opinion, exactly how it SHOULD have gone. If nothing else, this is a film that should be applauded for its BALLS …

29. THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON – quite possibly the year’s most adorable indie, this dramatic feature debut from documentarian writer-directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz largely snuck in under the radar on release, but has gone on to garner some well-deserved critical appreciation and sleeper hit success. The lion’s share of the film’s success must surely go to the inspired casting, particularly in the central trio who drive the action – Nilson and Schwartz devised the film with Zack Gotsagen, an exceptionally talented young actor with Down’s Syndrome, specifically in mind for the role of Zak, a wrestling obsessive languishing in a North Carolina retirement home who dreams of escaping his stifling confines and going to the training camp of his hero, the Saltwater Redneck (Thomas Haden Church), where he can learn to become a pro wrestler; after slipping free, Zak enlists the initially wary help of down-at-heel criminal fisherman Tyler (Shia LaBaouf) in reaching his intended destination, while the pair are pursued by Zak’s primary caregiver, Eleanor (Dakota Johnson). Needless to say the unlikely pair bond on the road, and when Eleanor is reluctantly forced to tag along with them, a surrogate family is formed … yeah, the plot is so predictable you can see every twist signposted from miles back, but that familiarity is never a problem because these characters are so lovingly written and beautifully played that you’ve fallen for them within five minutes of meeting them, so you’re effortlessly swept along for the ride. The three leads are pure gold – this is the most laid back and cuddly Shia’s been for years, but his lackadaisical charm is pleasingly tempered with affecting pathos driven by a tragic loss in Tyler’s recent past, while Johnson is sensible, sweet and likeably grounded, even when Eleanor’s at her most exasperated, but Gotsagen is the real surprise, delivering an endearingly unpredictable, livewire performance that blazes with true, honest purity and total defiance in the face of any potential difficulties society may try to throw at Zak – while there’s excellent support from Church in a charmingly awkward late-film turn that goes a long way to reminding us just what an acting treasure he is, as well as John Hawkes and rapper Yelawolf as a pair of lowlife crab-fishermen hunting for Tyler, intending to wreak (not entirely undeserved) revenge on him for an ill-judged professional slight. Enjoying a gentle sense of humour and absolutely CRAMMED with heartfelt emotional heft, this really was one of the most downright LOVEABLE films of 2019.

28. PET SEMATARY – first off, let me say that I never saw the 1989 feature adaptation of Stephen King’s story, so I have no comparative frame of reference there – I WILL say, however, that the original novel is, in my opinion, one of the strongest offerings from America’s undisputed master of literary horror, so any attempt made to bring it to the big screen had better be a good one. Thankfully, this version more than delivers in that capacity, proving to be one of the more impressive of his cinematic outings in recent years (not quite up to the standard of The Mist or It Chapter 1, perhaps, but certainly on a par with the criminally overlooked 1408), as well as one of the year’s top horror offerings. This may be the feature debut of directing double-act Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, but they both display a wealth of natural talent here, wrangling bone-chilling scares and a pervading atmosphere of oppressive dread to deliver a top-notch screen fright-fest that works its way under your skin and stays put for days after. Jason Clarke is a classic King everyman hero as Boston doctor Louis Creed, displaced to the small Maine town of Ludlow as he trades the ER for a quiet clinic practice so he can spent more time with his family – Amy Seimetz (Upstream Color, Stranger Things), excellent throughout as his haunted, emotionally fragile wife Rachel, toddler son Gage (twins Hugo and Lucas Lavole), and daughter Ellie (newcomer Jeté Laurence, BY FAR the film’s biggest revelation, delivering to the highest degree even when her role becomes particularly intense). Their new home seems idyllic, the only blots being the main road at the end of their drive which experiences heavy traffic from speeding trucks, and the children’s pet cemetery in the woods at the back of their garden, which has become something of a local landmark. But there’s something far darker in the deeper places beyond, an ancient place of terrible power Louis is introduced to by their well-meaning but ultimately fallible elderly neighbour Jud (one of the best performances I’ve ever seen from screen legend John Lithgow) when his daughter’s beloved cat Church is run over. The cat genuinely comes back, but he’s irrevocably changed, the once gentle and lovable furball now transformed into a menacingly mangy little psychopath, and his resurrection sets off a chain of horrific events destined to devour the entire family … this is supernatural horror at its most inherently unnerving, mercilessly twisting the screws throughout its slow-burn build to the inevitable third act bloodbath and reaching a bleak, soul-crushing climax that comes close to rivalling the still unparalleled sucker-punch of The Mist – the adaptation skews significantly from King’s original at the mid-point, but even purists will be hard-pressed to deny that this is still VERY MUCH in keeping with the spirit of the book right up to its harrowing closing shot. The King of Horror has been well served once again – fans can rest assured that his dark imagination continues to inspire some truly great cinematic scares …

27. THE REPORT – the CIA’s notorious use of torture to acquire information from detainees in Guantanamo Bay and various other sites around the world in the wake of September 11, 2001, has been a particularly spiky political subject for years now, one which has gained particular traction with cinema-goers over the years thanks to films like Rendition and, of course, controversial Oscar-troubler Zero Dark Thirty. It’s also a particular bugbear of screenwriter Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum, Contagion, Side Effects) – his parents are both psychologists, and he found it particularly offensive that a profession he knows was created to help people could have been turned into such a damaging weapon against the human psyche, inexorably leading him to taking up this passion project, championed by its producer, and Burns’ long-time friend and collaborator, Steven Soderbergh. It tells the true story of Senate staffer Daniel Jones’ five-year battle to bring his damning 6,300-page study of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program, commissioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee, into the light of day in the face of increasingly intense and frequently underhanded resistance from the Agency and various high-ranking officials within the US Government whose careers could be harmed should their own collusion be revealed. In lesser hands this could have been a clunky, unappetisingly dense excuse for a slow-burn political thriller that drowned in its own exposition, but Burns handles the admittedly heavyweight material with deft skill and makes each increasingly alarming revelation breathlessly compelling while he ratchets up the tension by showing just what a seemingly impossible task Jones and his small but driven team faced. The film would have been nought, however, without a strong cast, and this one has a killer – taking a break from maintaining his muscle-mass for Star Wars, Adam Driver provides a suitably robust narrative focus as Jones, an initially understated workman who slowly transforms into an incensed moral crusader as he grows increasingly filled with righteous indignation by the vile subject matter he’s repeatedly faced with, and he’s provided with sterling support from the likes of Annette Bening, delivering her best performance in years as Senator Dianne Feinstein, Jones’ staunchest supporter, the ever-wonderful Ted Levine as oily CIA director John O. Brennan, Tim Blake Nelson as a physician contracted by the CIA to assist with interrogations who became genuinely disgusted by the horrors he witnessed, and Matthew Rhys as an unnamed New York Times reporter Jones considers leaking the report to when it looks like it might never be released. This is powerful stuff, and while it may only mark Burns’ second directorial feature (after his obscure debut Pu-239), he handles the gig like a seasoned pro, milking the material for every drop of dramatic tension while keeping the narrative as honest, forthright and straightforward as possible, and the end result makes for sobering, distressing and thoroughly engrossing viewing. Definitely one of the most important films not only of 2019, but of the decade itself, and one that NEEDS to be seen.

26. DARK PHOENIX – wow, this really has been a year for mistreated sequels, hasn’t it? There’s a seriously stinky cloud of controversy surrounding what is now, in light of recent developments between Disney and Twentieth Century Fox, the last true Singer-era X-Men movie, a film which saw two mooted release dates (first November 2018 then the following February, before finally limping onto screens with very little fanfare in June 2019, almost as if Fox wanted to bury it. Certainly rumours of its compromise were rife, particularly regarding supposed rushed reshoots because of clashing similarities with Marvel’s major tent-pole release Captain Marvel (and given the all-conquering nature of the MCU there was no way they were having that, was there?), so like many I was expecting a clunky mess, maybe even a true stinker to rival X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In truth, while it’s not perfect, the end result is nothing like the turd we all feared – the final film is, in fact, largely a success, worthy of favourable comparison with its stronger predecessors. It certainly makes much needed amends for the disappointing mismanagement of the source comics’ legendary Dark Phoenix saga in 2006’s decidedly compromised original X-Men trilogy capper The Last Stand, this time treating the story with the due reverence and respect it deserves as well as serving as a suitably powerful send-off for more than one beloved key character. Following the “rebooted” path of the post-Days of Future Past timeline, it’s now 1992, and after the world-changing events of Apocalypse the X-Men have become a respected superhero team with legions of fans and their own personal line to the White House, while mutants at large have mostly become accepted by the regular humans around them. Then a hastily planned mission into space takes a turn for the worst and Jean Grey (Game of Thrones’ Sophie Turner) winds up absorbing an immensely powerful, thoroughly inexplicable cosmic force that makes her powers go haywire while also knocking loose repressed childhood traumas Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) would rather had stayed buried, sending her on a dangerous spiral out of control which leads to a destructive confrontation and the inadvertent death of a teammate. Needless to say, the situation soon becomes desperate as Jean goes on the run and the world starts to turn against them all once again … all in all, then, it’s business as usual for the cast and crew of one of Fox’s flagship franchises, and it SHOULD have gone off without a hitch. When Bryan Singer opted not to return this time around (instead setting his sights on Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody), key series writer Simon Kinberg stepped into the breach for his directorial debut, and it turns out he’s got a real talent for it, giving us just the kind of robust, pacy, thrilling action-packed epic his compatriot would have delivered, filled with the same thumping great set-pieces (the final act’s stirring, protracted train battle is the unequivocal highlight here), well-observed character beats and emotional resonance we’ve come to expect from the series as a whole (then again, he does know these movies back to frond having at least co-written his fair share). The cast, similarly, are all on top form – McAvoy and Michael Fassbender (as fan favourite Erik Lehnsherr, aka Magneto) know their roles so well now they can do this stuff in their sleep, but we still get to see them explore interesting new facets of their characters (particularly McAvoy, who gets to reveal an intriguing dark side to the Professor we’ve only ever seen hinted at before now), while Turner finally gets to really breathe in a role which felt a little stiff and underexplored in her series debut in Apocalypse (she EASILY forges the requisite connective tissue to Famke Janssen’s more mature and assured take in the earlier films); conversely Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler) and Evan Peters (Quicksilver) get somewhat short shrift but nonetheless do A LOT with what little they have, and at least Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult still get to do plenty of dramatic heavy lifting as the last of Xavier’s original class, Raven (Mystique) and Hank McCoy (Beast); the only real weak link in the cast is the villain, Vuk, a shape-shifting alien whose quest to seize the power Jean’s appropriated is murkily defined at best, but at least Jessica Chastain manages to invest her with enough icy menace to keep things from getting boring. All in all, then, this is very much a case of business as usual, Kinberg and co keeping the action thundering along at a suitably cracking pace throughout (powered by a typically epic score from Hans Zimmer), and the film only really comes off the rails in its final moments, when that aforementioned train finally comes off its tracks and the reported reshoots must surely kick in – as a result this is, to me, most reminiscent of previous X-flick The Wolverine, which was a rousing success for the majority of its runtime, only coming apart in its finale thanks to that bloody ridiculous robot samurai. The climax is, therefore, a disappointment, too clunky and sudden and overly neat in its denouement (we really could have done with a proper examination of the larger social impact of these events), but it’s little enough that it doesn’t spoil what came before … which just makes the film’s mismanagement and resulting failure, as well as its subsequent treatment from critics and fans alike, all the more frustrating. This film deserved much better, but ultimately looks set to be disowned and glossed over by most of the fanbase as the property as a whole goes through the inevitable overhaul now that Disney/Marvel owns Fox and plans to bring the X-Men and their fellow mutants into the MCU fold. I feel genuinely sorry for the one remaining X-film, The New Mutants, which is surely destined for spectacular failure after its similarly shoddy round of reschedules finally comes to an end this summer …

25. IT CHAPTER 2 – back in 2017, Mama director Andy Muschietti delivered the first half of his ambitious two-film adaptation of one of Stephen King’s most popular and personal novels, which had long been considered un-filmable (the 90s miniseries had a stab, but while it deserves its cult favourite status it certainly fell short in several places) until Muschietti and screenwriters Cary Joji Fukunaga and Gary Dauberman seemingly did the impossible, and the end result was the top horror hit of the year. Ultimately, then, it was gonna be a tough act to follow, and there was MAJOR conjecture whether they could repeat that success with this second half. Would lightning strike twice? Well, the simple answer is … mostly. 2017’s Chapter 1 was a stone-cold masterpiece, and one of the strongest elements in its favour was the extremely game young cast of newcomers and relative unknown child actors who brought the already much beloved Loser’s Club to perfectly-cast life, a seven-strong gang of gawky pre-teen underdogs you couldn’t help loving, which made it oh-so-easy to root for them as they faced off against that nightmarish shape-shifting child-eating monster, Pennywise the Dancing Clown. It was primal, it was terrifying, and it was BURSTING with childhood nostalgia that thoroughly resonated with an audience hungry for more 80s-set coming-of-age genre fare after the runaway success of Stranger Things. Bringing the story into the present day with the Losers now returning to their childhood home of Derry, Maine as forty-something adults, Chapter 2 was NEVER going to achieve the same pulse-quickening electric charge the first film pulled off, was it? Thankfully, with the same director and (mostly) the same writing crew on hand (Fukunaga jumped ship but Dauberman was there to finish up with the help of Jason Fuchs and an uncredited Jeffrey Jurgensen) there’s still plenty of that old magic left over, so while it’s not quite the same second time round, this still feels very much like the same adventure, just older, wiser and a bit more cynical. Here’s a more relevant reality check, mind – those who didn’t approve of the first film’s major changes from the book are going to be even more incensed by this, but the differences here are at least organic and in keeping with the groundwork laid in Chapter 1, and indeed this film in particular is a VERY different beast from the source material, but these differences are actually kind of a strength here, Muschietti and co. delivering something that works MUCH better cinematically than a more faithful take would have. Anyway, the Loser’s Club are back, all grown up and (for the most part) wildly successful living FAR AWAY from Derry with dream careers and seemingly perfect lives. Only Mike Hanlon has remained behind to hold vigil over the town and its monstrous secret, and when a new spree of disappearances and grisly murders begins he calls his old friends back home to fulfil the pact they all swore to uphold years ago – stop Pennywise once and for all. The new cast are just as excellent as their youthful counterparts – Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy are, of course, the big leads here as grown up Beverley Marsh and Bill Denbrough, bringing every watt of star power they can muster, but the others hold more interest, with Bill Hader perfectly cast (both director and child actor’s personal first choice) as smart-mouth Richie Tozier, Isaiah Mustafah (best known as the Old Spice guy from those hilarious commercials) playing VERY MUCH against type as Mike, Jay Ryan (successful on the small screen in Top of the Lake and Beauty & the Beast, but very much getting his cinematic big break here) as a slimmed-down and seriously buffed-out Ben Hanscom, James Ransone (Sinister) as neurotic hypochondriac Eddie Kaspbrak, and Andy Bean (Power, the recent Swamp Thing series) as ever-rational Stan Uris – but we still get to hang out with the original kids too in new flashbacks that (understandably) make for some of the film’s best scenes, while Bill Skarsgard is as terrifying as ever as he brings new ferocity, insidious creepiness and even a touch of curious back-story to Pennywise. I am happy to report this new one IS just as scary as its predecessor, a skin-crawling, spine-tingling, pants-wetting cold sweat of a horror-fest that works its way in throughout its substantial running time and, as before, sticks with you LONG after the credits have rolled, but it’s also got the same amount of heart, emotional heft and pathos, nostalgic charm (albeit more grown-up and sullied) and playful, sometimes decidedly mischievous geeky humour, so that as soon as you’re settled in it really does feel like you’ve come home. It’s also fiendishly inventive, the final act in particular skewing in some VERY surprising new directions that there’s NO WAY you’ll see coming, and the climax also, interestingly, redresses one particularly frustrating imbalance that always bugged me about the book, making for an especially moving, heartbreaking denouement. Interestingly, there’s a running joke in the film that pokes fun at a perceived view from some quarters that Stephen King’s endings often disappoint – there’s no such fault with THIS particular adaptation. For me, this was altogether JUST the concluding half I was hoping for, so while it’s not as good as the first, it should leave you satisfied all the same.

24. MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN – it’s taken Edward Norton twenty years to get his passion project adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s novel to the big screen, but the final film was certainly worth the wait, a cool-as-ice noir thriller in which its writer-director also, of course, stars as one of the most unusual ‘tecs around. Lionel Essrog suffers from Tourette syndrome, prone to uncontrollable ticks and vocal outbursts as well as obsessive-compulsive spirals that can really ruin his day, but he’s also got a genius-level intellect and a photographic memory, which means he’s the perfect fit for the detective agency of accomplished, highly successful New York gumshoe Frank Minna (Bruce Willis). But when their latest case goes horribly wrong and Frank dies in a back-alley gunfight, the remaining members of the agency are left to pick up the pieces and try to find out what went wrong, Lionel battling his own personal, mental and physical demons as he tries to unravel an increasingly labyrinthine tangle of lies, deceit, corporate corruption and criminal enterprise that reaches to the highest levels of the city’s government. Those familiar with the original novel will know that it’s set in roughly the present day, but Norton felt many aspects of the story lent themselves much better to the early 1950s, and it really was a good choice – Lionel is a man very much out his time, a very odd fit in an age of stuffy morals and repression, while the themes of racial upheaval, rampant urban renewal and massive, unchecked corporate greed feel very much of the period. Besides, there’s few things as seductive than a good noir thriller, and Norton has crafted a real GEM right here. The pace can be a little glacial at times, but this simply gives the unfolding plot and extremely rich collection of characters plenty of room to grow, while the jazzy score (from up-and-comer Daniel Pemberton, composer on Steve Jobs, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) provides a surprising complimentary accompaniment to the rather free-form narrative style and Lionel’s own scattershot, bebop style. Norton is exceptional in the lead, landing his best role in years with an exquisitely un-self-conscious ease that makes for thoroughly compelling viewing (surely more than one nod will be due come awards-season), but he doesn’t hog ALL the limelight, letting his uniformly stellar supporting cast shine bright as well – Willis doesn’t get a huge amount of screen time, but delivers a typically strong, nuanced performance that makes his absence throughout the rest of the film keenly felt, Gugu Mbatha-Raw continues to build an impressive run of work as Laura, the seemingly unimportant woman Lionel befriends, who could actually be the key to the whole case, Alec Baldwin is coolly menacing as power-hungry property magnate and heavyweight city official Moses Randolph, the film’s nominal big-bad, Willem Dafoe is absolutely electrifying as his down-at-heel, insignificant genius brother Lou, and Boardwalk Empire’s Michael K. Williams is quietly outstanding as mysterious jazz musician Trumpet Man, while Bobby Canavale, Ethan Suplee and Dallas Roberts are all excellent as the other hands in Minna’s detective agency. It’s a chilled-out affair, happy to hang back and let its slow-burn plot simmer while Lionel tries to navigate his job and life in general while battling his many personal difficulties, but due to the incredible calibre of the talent on offer, the incredibly rich dialogue and obligatory hardboiled gumshoe voiceover, compelling story and frequently achingly beautiful visuals, this is about as compulsively rewarding as cinema gets. Norton’s crafted a film noir worthy of comparison with the likes of L.A. Confidential and Chinatown, proving that he’s a triple-threat cinematic talent to be reckoned with.

23. PROSPECT – I love a good cinematic underdog, there’s always some dynamite indies and sleepers that just about slip through the cracks that I end up championing every year, and one of 2019’s favourites was a minor sensation at 2018’s South By Southwest film festival, a singularly original ultra-low-budget sci-fi adventure that made a genuine virtue of its miniscule budget. Riffing on classic eco-minded space flicks like Silent Running, it introduces a father-and-daughter prospecting team who land a potentially DEEPLY lucrative contract mining for an incredibly rare element on a toxic jungle moon – widower Damon (Transparent’s Jay Duplass), who’s downtrodden and world-weary but still a dreamer, and teenager Cee (relative newcomer Sophie Thatcher), an introverted bookworm with hidden reserves of ingenuity and fortitude. The job starts well, Damon setting his sights on a rumoured “queen’s layer” that could make them rich beyond their wildest dreams, but when they meet smooth-talking scavenger Ezra (Narcos’ Pedro Pascal), things take a turn for the worse – Damon is killed and Cee is forced to team up with Ezra to have any hope for survival on this hostile, unforgiving moon. Thatcher is an understated joy throughout, her seemingly detached manner belying hidden depths of intense feeling, while Pascal, far from playing a straight villain, turns Ezra into something of a tragic, charismatic antihero we eventually start to sympathise with, and the complex relationship that develops between them is a powerful, mercurial thing, the constantly shifting dynamic providing a powerful driving force for the film. Debuting writer-directors Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell have crafted a wonderfully introspective, multi-layered tone poem of aching beauty, using subtle visual effects and a steamy, glow-heavy colour palette to make the lush forest environs into something nonetheless eerie and inhospitable, while the various weird and colourful denizens of this deadly little world prove that Ezra may be the LEAST of the dangers Cee faces in her quest for escape. Inventive, intriguing and a veritable feast for the eyes and intellect, this is top-notch indie sci-fi and a sign of great things to come from its creators, thoroughly deserving of major cult recognition in the future.

22. DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE – S. Craig Zahler is a writer-director who’s become a major fixture on my ones-to-watch list in recent years, instantly winning me over with his dynamite debut feature Bone Tomahawk before cementing that status with awesome follow-up Brawl On Cell Block 99. His latest is another undeniable hit that starts deceptively simply before snowballing into a sprawling urban crime epic as it follows its main protagonists – disgraced Bulwark City cops Brett Ridgeman (Mel Gibson) and Tony Lurasetti (BOCB99’s Vince Vaughn), on unpaid suspension after their latest bust leads to a PR nightmare – on a descent into a hellish criminal underworld as they set out to “seek compensation” for their situation by ripping off the score from a bank robbery spearheaded by ruthlessly efficient professional thief Lorentz Vogelmann (Thomas Kretschmann). In lesser hands, this two-hour-forty-minute feature might have felt like a painfully padded effort that would have passed far better chopped down to a breezy 90-minutes, but Zahler is such a compellingly rich and resourceful writer that every scene is essential viewing, overflowing with exquisitely drawn characters spouting endlessly quotable, gold-plated dialogue, and the constantly shifting narrative focus brings such consistent freshness that the increasingly complex plot remains rewarding right to the end. The two leads are both typically excellent – Vaughn gets to let loose with a far more showy, garrulous turn here than his more reserved character in his first collaboration with Zahler, while this is EASILY the best performance I’ve seen Gibson deliver in YEARS, the grizzled veteran clearly having a fine old time getting his teeth into a particularly meaty role that very much plays to his strengths – and they’re brilliantly bolstered by an excellent supporting cast – Get Rich Or Die Tryin’s Tory Kittles easily matches them in his equally weighty scenes as Henry Johns, a newly-released ex-con also out to improve his family’s situation with a major score, while Kretschmann is at his most chilling as the brutal killer who executes his plans with cold-blooded precision, and there are wonderful scene-stealing offerings from Jennifer Carpenter, Udo Kier, Don Johnson (three more Zahler regulars, each featured with Vaughn on BOCB99), Michael Jai White, Laurie Holden and newcomer Miles Truitt. This is a proper meaty film, dark, intense, gritty and unflinching in its portrayal of honest, unglamorous violence and its messy aftermath, but fans of grown-up filmmaking will find PLENTY to enjoy here, Zahler crafting a crime epic comparable to the heady best of Scorsese and Tarantino. Another sure-fire winner from one of the best new filmmakers around.

21. FAST COLOR – intriguingly, the most INTERESTING superhero movie of the year was NOT a major franchise property, or even a comic book adapted to the screen at all, but a wholly original indie which snuck in very much under the radar on its release but is surely destined for cult greatness in the future, not least due to some much-deserved critical acclaim. Set in an unspecified future where it hasn’t rained for years, a homeless vagabond named Ruth (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is making her aimless way across a desolate American Midwest, tormented by violent seizures which cause strange localised earthquakes, and hunted by Bill (Argo’s Christopher Denham), a rogue scientist who wants to capture her so he can study her abilities. Ultimately she’s left with no other recourse than to run home, sheltering with her mother Bo (Middle of Nowhere and Orange is the New Black’s Lorraine Toussaint), and her young daughter Lila (The Passage’s Saniyya Sidney), both of whom also have weird and wondrous powers of their own. As the estranged family reconnect, Ruth finally learns to control her powers as she’s forced to confront her own troubled past, but as Bill closes in it looks like their idyll might be short-lived … this might only be the second feature of writer-director Julie Hart (who cut her teeth penning well-regarded indie western The Keeping Room before making her own debut helming South By Southwest Film Festival hit Miss Stevens), but it’s a blinding statement of intent for the future, a deceptively understated thing of beauty that eschews classic superhero cinema conventions of big spectacle and rousing action in favour of a quiet, introspective character-driven story where the unveiling and exploration of Ruth and her kin’s abilities are secondary to the examination of how their familial dynamics work (or often DON’T), while Hart and cinematographer Michael Fimognari (probably best known for his frequent work for Mike Flanagan) bring a ruined but bleakly beautiful future to life through inventively understated production design and sweeping, dramatic vistas largely devoid of visual effects. Subtlety is the watchword, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t fireworks here, it’s just that they’re generally performance-based – awards-darling Mbatha-Raw (Belle) gives a raw, heartfelt performance, painting Ruth in vivid shades of grey, while Toussaint is restrained but powerfully memorable and Sidney builds on her already memorable work to deliver what might be her best turn to date, and there are strong supporting turns from Denham (who makes his nominal villain surprisingly sympathetic) and Hollywood great David Strathairn as gentle small town sheriff Ellis. Leisurely paced and understated it may be, but this is still an incendiary piece of work, sure to become a breakout sleeper hit for a filmmaking talent from whom I expect GREAT THINGS in the future, and since the story’s been picked up for expansion into a TV series with Hart in charge that looks like a no-brainer. And it most assuredly IS a bona fide superhero movie, despite appearances to the contrary …

#glass #glass movie #the peanut butter falcon #pet sematary #the report #dark phoenix #it chapter 2 #motherless brooklyn #prospect #prospect movie #dragged across concrete #fast color #2019 in movies

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goatsandgangsters · 4 years

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Pokemon AU: Team NY Part Two (Elite Four)

—A collaboration with @meyerlansky —Though this is set in the Unova region, we said “fuck it” with regards to which Pokemon are actually found in what region—because that’s limiting and less fun —The Elite Four edits below were made in (*checks metadata*) jesus, 2016. Pokemon that are more recently released were not largely accounted for in our plan (though some Galarian pokemon were so good, we had to revise) —Part One (Trainers) can be viewed here —Edits are done roughly to scale with character and pokemon heights. There aren’t many good trainer makers out there, so I used (slightly edited) in-game character art for them

The road to becoming the Elite Four for the Unova region was not an easy one. While they grew as trainers and as friends, Charlie, Meyer, Benny, and Frank went head-to-head with some of the region’s toughest trainers and gym leaders—plus two warring Team Rocket factions competing for control of Unova’s robust underbelly. Along the way, they grew stronger teams, developed their type preferences, and fought their way to become the latest and strongest installment Unova’s Elite Four.

BENNY SIEGEL, ELITE FOUR (Fighting/Fairy):

Pokemon Team (left to right) with Pokedex entries:

Galarian Rapidash (psychic/fairy): “Little can stand up to its psycho cut. Unleashed from this Pokémon's horn, the move will punch a hole right through a thick metal sheet.”

Primeape (fighting): “It will beat up anyone who makes it mad, even if it has to chase them until the end of the world.”

Florges (fairy): “It controls the flowers it grows. The petal blizzards that Florges triggers are overwhelming in their beauty and power.”

Pangoro (fighting/dark): “It charges ahead and bashes its opponents like a berserker, uncaring about any hits it might take. Its arms are mighty enough to snap a telephone pole.”

Gallade (psychic/fighting): “Because it can sense what its foe is thinking, its attacks burst out first, fast, and fierce.”

Mienshao (fighting): “When Mienshao lets out a bizarre wail, you're in danger. A flurry of kicks and chops too fast to see is about to be unleashed!”

Benny’s team is the perfect mixture of flash and brute force—much like his battle strategy. As the first member of the Elite Four that trainers face, Benny’s battles are filled with heavy-hitting moves.

While most of his team is comprised of fighting Pokemon that match his own temperament and battle strategy, Benny surprises challengers with the addition of two fairy-types on his team. Early on in their days as the Elite Four, Charlie gave Benny a hard time about choosing fairy-type Pokemon. Benny’s Florges delivered one attack that knocked out all of Charlie’s dragons in one hit; he has since stopped commenting on Benny’s team choices. No one else in the League would say a word against him either—Benny is known to be short-tempered and eager for a battle.

In addition to his love of battling, Benny enjoys collecting shiny Pokemon, ever since he caught his shiny Floette at the start of his journey. Now evolved into his small-but-powerful Florges, it stands alongside a shiny Gallade on his team. He also traveled to the distant Galar region to catch a Rapidash—purely because it “looks awesome,” to quote the Elite Four member.

A battle against Benny is usually a short one. His Pokemon hit hard and fast, and they’ll do anything to win.

CHARLIE LUCIANO, ELITE FOUR (Fire/Dragon):

Pokemon Team (left to right) with Pokedex entries:

Pyroar (fire/normal): “The males are usually lazy, but when attacked by a strong foe, a male will protect its friends with no regard for its own safety.”

Goodra (dragon): “It's very friendly toward people. If you grow close to it, Goodra will hug you with its sticky, slime-covered body. Don't get mad.”

Charizard (fire/dragon): “It is said that Charizard's fire burns hotter if it has experienced harsh battles.”

Tyrantrum (rock/dragon): “Nothing could stop this Pokémon 100 million years ago, so it behaved like a king.”

Arcanine (fire): “A Pokémon that has long been admired for its beauty. It runs agilely as if on wings.”

Houndoom (dark/fire): “Identifiable by its eerie howls, people a long time ago thought it was the grim reaper and feared it.”

Ever since Charlie’s first Pokemon, Charmander, his early affinity for fire-type Pokemon continued throughout his career as a trainer. However, the weakness to commonly found water-type Pokemon left him vulnerable. After discovering Mega Evolution that would change his beloved Charizard into fire/dragon, the new type speciality seemed obvious to strengthen his team.

His team is a mix of both fire and dragon types. This approach was seen as unconventional at first, as members of the Elite Four have historically only specialized in one type of Pokemon. When pressed for comment on this break from tradition, Charlie shrugged. “What’s that got to do with me? My team’s stronger this way—ain’t that the whole point?”

Along with his starter Pokemon (now evolved into a Charizard), his dragon-type Goomy and his fire/dark-type Houndour are still part of his team in their final evolution stages, having grown in strength over the years. The Arcanine was a natural addition among Charlie’s fire-type and dog-like Pokemon collection. Information is scarce as to how he acquired the ancient powerhouse Tyrantrum. Rumor has it that Charlie won an odd rock in a battle and thought he’d been ripped off; it was Meyer who recognized the ancient fossil for what it was.

The fire-type Pyroar was originally trained by Meyer as a Litleo, then traded for Charlie’s Deino. This was Charlie’s idea, as he and Meyer developed their respective interest in fire and dark Pokemon. Both Pokemon are loyal and devoted to their new trainers—as much as the two trainers are to each other.

Charlie is a fierce competitor who battles with a hard offense, though his ability to strategize has been honed over the years. His team of Pokemon form a strong and loyal pack, protective of their trainer and just as determined to win and prove their strength.

FRANK COSTELLO, ELITE FOUR (Normal):

Pokemon Team (left to right) with Pokedex entries:

Staraptor (normal/flying): “It never stops attacking even if it is injured. It fusses over the shape of its comb.”

Miltank (normal): “Most people raise it for its milk, but it's quite tough and strong, so it's also well suited for battle.”

Ursaring (normal): “With its ability to distinguish any smell, it unfailingly finds all food buried deep underground.”

Bewear (normal/fighting): “This Pokémon has the habit of hugging its companions. Many Trainers have left this world after their spines were squashed by its hug.”

Kangaskhan (normal): “To protect its young, it will never give up during battle, no matter how badly wounded it is.”

Kecleon (normal): “A Pokémon that has the ability to alter its body colors to match its surroundings. A Kecleon reverts to its original colors if it is startled.”

Frank has the distinction of being the first-ever Elite Four trainer to specialize in normal-type Pokemon. He considers them sturdy and strong, with minimal influence from type-based strengths and weaknesses. This allows Frank to focus solely on his battle strategy, using a range of careful defensive and stat moves alongside some powerhouse offensive attacks from his Pokemon team.

He hasn’t changed his style much since his trainer days. But don’t let Frank’s understated presence deceive you—his Pokemon pack a punch. His Ursaring—once the tiny Teddiursa that accompanied him as a young trainer—is a hard fighter. Despite its cute appearance, Bewear is a Pokemon known for its incredible strength; it’s also known as a protective Pokemon that will go into a rage to protect those it cares about.

Frank’s Kecleon has also grown alongside him over the years. While it isn’t quite the powerhouse in terms of pure strength as the rest of his team, it does have the unique ability to blend into its surroundings and to change its type depending on the opponent. Over the years, Frank has mastered using Kecleon’s color change ability to undermine his opponent’s strategy and turn the tables on a battle.

Frank is the third member of the Elite Four that trainers must face. He prefers being later in the lineup—being after Benny and Charlie means that he sees less action. While he has a sharp mind for battles and strong Pokemon at his side, Frank enjoys using the downtime outside of the League to tend to his berry patch.

MEYER LANSKY, ELITE FOUR (Dark):

Pokemon Team (left to right) with Pokedex entries:

Golurk (ground/ghost): “It is said that Golurk were ordered to protect people and Pokémon by the ancient people who made them.”

Bisharp (dark/steel): “Bisharp doesn't even change its expression when it deals the finishing blow to an opponent.”

Sableye (dark/ghost): “Sableye lead quiet lives deep inside caverns. They are feared, however, because these Pokémon are thought to steal the spirits of people when their eyes burn with a sinister glow in the darkness.”

Hydreigon (dark/dragon): “The three heads take turns sinking their teeth into the opponent. Their attacks won't slow until their target goes down.”

Weavile (dark/ice): “They live in cold regions, forming groups of four or five that hunt prey with impressive coordination.”

Scrafty (dark/fighting): “While mostly known for having the temperament of an aggressive ruffian, this Pokémon takes very good care of its family, friends, and territory.”

The strongest and final member of Unova’s Elite Four, Meyer is a cunning trainer with a natural knack for strategy and a smile more chilling than the snowy town where he first started his Pokemon journey. His dark-type team is a force to be reckoned with, carefully chosen for strategy as well as strength. Each of his five dark-type Pokemon boast different secondary types, affording a wide range of powerful moves and posing an additional challenge to anyone who would battle him.

The dark/ice Weavile from his original team embodies his specialty as a trainer, with its sharp claws and intellect. The little Scraggy from his trainer days has also remained a vital member of his team, now evolved into the no-less-tiny but far more powerful Scrafty. His team is rounded out by Sableye, a dangerous dark/ghost Pokemon with few weaknesses, and a disciplined and forceful Bisharp. The Hydreigon is evolved from the Deino he received from Charlie, in exchange for Meyer’s Litleo early in their journeys.

The only exception to his dark-type team is the ground/ghost Golurk; the bond between trainer and Pokemon has only grown stronger since that day many years ago when Meyer first found the little Golett in the snow. The ancient Pokemon is said to be a protector, and its strength coupled with Meyer’s natural knack for strategy has won them many battles.

Meyer is the final member of the Elite Four that trainers must defeat before going on to challenge the Champion. To date, only one trainer has ever managed to progress past Meyer. He has gone on record with the League stating that it will never happen again; so far, he has kept his word.

-----

The Unova Elite Four is comprised of four trainers who have grown together to become the strongest in the region. They were installed as the Elite Four under former League Champion Arnold Rothstein, whose psychic-based team never saw any action with these four guarding the path to the Champion.

Only one trainer has ever managed to defeat them all—a woman from the Kanto region, with a strong, diversified team. The unexpected victor Margaret Rohan has been the presiding League Champion for several years since.

#Boardwalk Empire #benny siegel #charlie luciano #frank costello #meyer lansky #boardwalk au #pokemon au #my writing #my edits #THANK YOU TO THE ANON WHO REMINDED ME ABOUT THIS AU #it's... a lot of fun #I plan on making a team ny part 3 with AR and Margaret's team (plus some Team Rocket action)#and then I dooooon't have as much worldbuilding for the other regions unfortunately #but I DO also have finished teams for Gillian Sally Angela and Al that I think are v good and I should post as well at some point

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hellyeahheroes · 6 years

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Bendis is moving to DC y’all

DC has Marvel’s highest seller writer, Brian Michael Bendis, the mind behind Marvel hits like Modern day Spider-man and Peter Parker, Jessica Jones, and the revival of Luke Cage. Miles Morales, and Riri Williams.The man that weave interpersonal and intense storylines such as Peter’s first and failed attempt at tacking the Kingpin and Avengers spending most of their time playing poker.Love him, hate him, or wish he would stop dragging on arcs, this is undoubtedly big news in comic circles.

Now, I have been a big follower of Bendis. I have read all 160 issues of Ultimate Spider-man and the 40 plus issues of Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-man. I read Daredevil, Moon Knight,Guardians of the Galaxy and stopped reading Guardians of the Galaxy, regrettably Civil War II, Age of Ultron, Alias, and so much more. So I know Bendis’s strengths and weaknesses as a writer. I know his quirks and tendencies.Like how random characters who have up to a point have been depicted as protestant or non-religious just randomly start using Yiddish slang(Peter Parker and fucking Mary Jane randomly say tuchas a lot).

With that said, the question on everyone’s mind is what is he going to write? As a connoisseur of Bendis’s bullshit, I can say that Bendis specializes in grounded characters. “A super hero that is grounded? What sense does that make?” I know right, but he has been kicking DC’s ass for nearly two decades so it is something of a speciality of his that people are willing to consume in bunches. And quite frankly, it is a good hire because DC, in general, when it comes to heroes, they write heroes as symbols and not heroes as ordinary people. Marvel writes heroes as people and because they are people, they become symbolic if that makes sense.

What I mean by grounded, I mean characters with daily middle to low class lives. People on their grind trying to work a 9-5 in the day and put on costumes and beat up thugs during the night. He is also great a noir and crime fiction, gritty or not so gritty. So the type of Superheroes that fight crime on a relatively low level. Street crime fighters.

We did some discussion and agreed Jaime Reyes would thrive under Bendis’s pen because he is pretty much Peter Parker except instead of Spider-bite, dude gets a hostile alien implant. It has been said that the character has been struggling and sales so Bendis’s name recognition would work.

Batman? Sure. Bendis did make a great Daredevil run, some would say it was his magnum opus, and Batman is Daredevil without the idealism and riches. Honestly, the only Batman I accept is DCAU and has nothing to do with Kevin Conroy as it does have to do with people writing the character as this infallible borderline sociopath that just does not kill. The problem with this is that Bruce Wayne is rich and you can just glance at Bendis’s Invincible Iron Man run and see how quickly he ditched the character in favor of a more down to Earth Riri Williams.

Now honestly, I think Superman is a bad idea. Bendis likes personable characters and Superman is a symbolic character. A symbol whose significance worn thin because he was supposed to be emblematic of American immigration in that even with his homeworld destroyed and essentially being an alien, he is still American as anyone. Yes, Bendis being Jewish and Superman being derived from Hebrew mythology would make you think it’s a match made for heaven, but the issue is that in spite of Clark’s mundane life, Clark Kent’s life is modeled after trying to be Clark Kent, a normal person, and less like Superman. If Superman gets pissed and has a bad day, we got Injustice like totalitarian rule. Superman’s entire struggle is that he has so much power that in everything he does, he has to walk around eggshells. It’s a world of cardboard for him. And that is okay. I am not knacking him, but in terms of superheroes, Bendis is out of his element. or would be.

Bendis is not great with narratively busy comics. I know this because if there are too many plots going on at once, he starts making characters talk in his voice, and so they are out of character. He does not explain things and just wants to get to the next moment. Read Civil War II and Age of Ultron for examples of this. These events are emblematic to why you should not give this man very complicated and heavy stories. Do not give him Justice League. It is a bad idea.

So we have narratively condensed, everyman characters with an aspect of crime noir. These are what brought Bendis to the dance.

@ubernegro

While I’m not as much a Bendis connoisseur, he’s been always around at Marvel, shaping it whenever he went, around the same time I came back to comics as a teenager. In fact, he’s been such a stable of Marvel for so long the sudden news he is jumping ships sounds so bizarre to me I’m half expecting to find out somebody spiced my coffee with drugs and this is all a hallucination. This is not the first time a writer unexpectedly jumped ships but might be the largest one since Grant Morrison had enough of being treated like shit by X-Men editorial and that one even Joe Quesada didn’t see coming before they announced it. It makes me worried how bad exactly are things at Marvel that even a company powerhouse like Bendis is leaving.

I’ve been checking out other sites and aside 4chan tearing itself over like they always do, it’s also trending on Twitter, with people like Tom King openly welcoming him with warm arms while others, like Gail Simone, are making their own guesses what he will get. In fact, here is hers:

Which is as far away from everything said above as possible. I mean, nothing speaks “grounded” like a team of aliens in far future.... buuuut apparently Bendis once admitted he would want to write a Legion book one day. I’m almost hoping DC really got Hickman, with whom they were apparently in talks, to do a Legion book instead and I’m not a fan of Hickman.

Back to the predictions, I agree that Batman might not be the best fit for Bendis. But I also think that one of his strengths is how rich the setting and supporting cast he provides. I could totally see him on a book about one of more grounded Batfamily members, like Red Hood and the Outlaws or maybe someone who don’t have a book right now (Azrael or Batwing?) or maybe even one of the villains. I could actually see him try Nightwing at some point, if given good editor it could be a midpoint between his Spider-Man and Daredevil books.

Gotham also proved it can be a solid backdrop for a series about normal humans in an absolutely batshit, no pun intended, setting. Gotham Central and Gotham Academy, with solid, beloved runs, really prove it. And while I wouldn’t trust Bendis with Renee Montoya or Maggie Sawyer, I could see him taking over Rebirth of Gotham Central, especially as he always got along with Ed Brubaker, one of its original co-creators. On the other hand, they might try to give him some street-level character like the Question, whom they messed up in New 52, to Rebirth.

Jaime is also a possible choice, as his book has been struggling to have good sales and seems to be sadly heading the way of Superwoman, with a writer change that in the latter’s case was followed by cancellation announcement. Bendis is the kind of writer who could bring to Jaime numbers Dan DiDio would want right now.

Which brings me to I think an important question - who managed to catch him? If Dan DiDio, then Bendis might join crew working on his pet project, Dark Matter imprint. And considering how much people compare Teriffics to Fantastic Four, Damage to Hulk and Sideways to Spider-Man already, this would be a whole new level of sticking it to Marvel. ESPECIALLY if he gets on Sideways, whom DiDio is co-writing with different writer every arc - first being Justin Jordan, second the abovementioned Morrison.

On the other hand, Bendis is friends with Geoff Johns, who, according to rumors I heard, is apparently in a bit of a power struggle with DiDio and had gotten an upper hand thanks to Rebirth. And when you consider what project Johns is working on right now. And what characters will it likely introduce to DC Universe. And who in comics inevitably come to mind when you think of terms like “grounded”, “narratively condensed”, “flawed”, “everyman” and “crime noir”.

youtube

- Admin

#Blue Beetle #Jaime Reyes #Batfamily #Legion of the Superheroes #Sideways #Dark Matter #DC

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spflives-blog · 4 years

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Day In The Life Of: AZ

Hey all, this is your resident Bug Maniac, Marc

Welcome to my new weekly segment: Day In The Life Of

I’m going to be taking characters from the Pokemon universe and doing my best to build a competitive team inspired by them and their signature mons. I’ll be taking you guys through my team-building process, posting a few memorable replays, and seeing how many people I can piss off on ladder.

Before we get started, I want to give credit to rising SPF star Dylan Lockwood. I definitely got some inspiration for this idea from him. He’s been building teams for each of the Galar gym leaders, and churning them out on his physical copy. Thanks Dylan, and I hope we can collab on one of these in the future!

I ended up picking AZ as my first team largely because his 3 signature pokemon are in the Galar dex already, which makes my job a bit easier. For those that don’t remember, AZ is the 9 ft tall white maned gentleman who you bump into during the events of X and Y versions. Thousands of years ago, he was the king of Kalos, and his beloved flower pokemon was killed during a war that had broken out in the region. AZ built a ‘device’ to bring his precious pokemon back to life, but ended up using the machine to destroy both warring armies in the process. (Apparently, the side-effects of using the device caused him to become an immortal giant) There’s a whole lot of lore and easter egg type things you can read up about if you’re interested. Honestly, I’m disappointed that we didn’t get a Z version to add to his story, and that we never got the special ‘Eternal Flower Floette’ as an in-game event. It would have helped my team on ladder, that’s for sure. Anyway, let’s move on to the team building.

When you fight AZ right after beating the league in X and Y, he uses Torkoal, Golurk, and Sigilyph. Obviously his theme is using ancient/old pokemon, which fits right into his immortality business. He also has his ace, Eternal Flower Floette, but we unfortunately won’t be able to use that or it’s normal evo line as they are not present in Galar. To fill in the other three spaces of the team, I scoured the dex for some that would fit the flower/ancient theme. This is the list I came up with. Belossom Roserade Cherrim Claydol Bronzong Runerigus Cofagrigus Aegislash Drampa Galar Fossils Xatu

I quickly gave up on my initial hopes that cherrim could be usable, and decided to settle on Belossom to represent the eternal flower. Roserade would have been a more competitive fit, but strength sap and chlorophyll shenanigans got me hyped. Obviously Vileplume would be a better choice in this slot, but it just didn’t sit for me, and I decided to hold out for my girl in green.

Next I decided to pick up Drampa. With so many of my pokes sharing a ghost and dark weakness, I felt like Dramps was needed to help alleviate one of those. I’ve never used him on any teams in the past, and I was excited to play around with berzerk.

With Drampa and Golurk as the powerhouses they are, I wanted to give Trick Room a try.For my final slot, I was really hoping Claydol would make the cut. He was one of the first pokemon I ever bred for tournament, and I jump at the chance to use him when I can. Unfortunately, Bronzong seemed a way better choice as a safe switch in for dragon and fairy type attacks, so I ultimately went with him.

This is what my initial team loadout looked like:

Torkoal @ Heavy Duty Boots Ability: Drought EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD Bold Nature IVs: 0 Atk / 5 Spe - Rapid Spin - Stealth Rock - Lava Plume - Body Press

Sigilyph @ Life Orb Ability: Magic Guard EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Timid Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Psychic - Heat Wave - Roost - Dazzling Gleam

Golurk @ Assault Vest Ability: No Guard EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD Brave Nature IVs: 2 Spe - Dynamic Punch - Heat Crash - Earthquake - Stone Edge

Bellossom @ Leftovers

Ability: Chlorophyll EVs: 252 HP / 180 SpA / 76 Spe Timid Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Growth - Strength Sap - Moonblast - Giga Drain

Drampa @ Life Orb Ability: Berserk EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA Quiet Nature IVs: 0 Atk / 2 Spe - Calm Mind - Roost - Hyper Voice - Flamethrower

Bronzong @ Leftovers Ability: Levitate EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD Sassy Nature IVs: 2 Spe - Trick Room - Toxic - Gyro Ball - Stealth Rock

Don’t worry about the silly speed IVs. When running trick room teams I try to put them a little above 0 just in case I want to get the jump on other TR builds.

I gave Bellossom enough speed to get ahead of 105 base timids in sun, but honestly wasn’t sure what would be best to do with her on the team. I opted for no guard on Golurk > iron fist. Dynamic Punch is an easy button to click when you need an out, and not worrying about stone edge just feels great. For the rest of the team, I went with standard setup fare + fire moves to take advantage of the sun, and figured I would change things later when I needed it.

Here are a few highlights from the first run of the team.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1090468045

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1090483593

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1090487633

After I had gotten through the low low rungs of the ladder (Including a spicy battle against a metapod), I started seeing the obvious issues on my team, and made the following changes. Heat Rock over Boots on Torkoal

Trick Room over Roost on Sigilyph

Assault Vest over Life Orb on Drampa

Draco Meteor and Ice Beam over Calm Mind and Roost on Drampa

Sleep Power over Growth on Bellossom

Growth was a long shot on Bellossom and wasn’t going to work out unless I made a more dedicated Sun team. Trick Room went from being secondary setup to the main focus of the team, so Drampa and Sig changed accordingly. Assault Vest on Golurk saved my ass a ton, so I figured I’d give it a shot on Dramps too. Plus it lets me survive scarf Dragapult Draco Meteor (among other things) and activate Berserk.

Here are a few fun replays from the next set of matches.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1090509553

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1090512979

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1090540732

My final record for the day was 13 Wins, and 7 losses, sitting me at low 1200 ELO. I ended up swapping Trick Room for Defog on Sigilyph, but might revert back when I work with the team again. Obviously I’ve got a lot more to do with this team, but I was pleasantly surprised with how it performed on the ladder, and wanted to get the first of these DITLOs out there.

MVP: Torkoal

So hard to choose! I got killer moments out of all of my pokemon over the course of a short 20 battles. Torkoal was a real lynchpin for me though, and with my defensive options so limited I appreciated having him to take so many hits for me.

Biggest Letdown: Bellossom

Seems like she had the decked stacked against her the whole time. Strength sap saved my ass against a few Dracovish and Gyarados, but besides that she was pretty underwhelming. I think switching her out for a defensively built Vileplume would help solve a lot of problems for the team.

Overall I had a lot of fun, and this was a great team to get me back on the saddle. I look forward to breaking it out in the future and tweaking it some more. Here’s hoping that the DLC gives us access to Florges, so I can get some much needed Fairy love on my team.

#spf pokemonxandy AZ teambuilding pokemonshowdown bugmaniacmarc

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miximax-hell · 7 years

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First of all: KURIMATSU FAMILY. THIS IS THE BEST THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME IN YEARS.

...Ahem.

It’s been about (over, cough) 3 months since my last proper post. Sigh. Life sure sucks when you finish what was the best semester of your university career and then you’re suddenly back home and wondering how to deal with... life. A life that you didn’t even think about for quite a few months and suddenly hits you in the face.

That kind of drained me. Sinusitis didn’t help either, but it was mostly a combination of feeling out of place in my own house, a complete lack of motivation to be productive (then again, I’m on holidays, so I guess taking a break after uni was a legit thing to do) and just bad feelings in general. Not very nice.

But oh well! The best way to stop overthinking and start acting is to act, so even if it took me a while to get started, here I am with the first miximax I have designed in quiiite some time. And nothing suits this heavy amount of rust better than a character that is known for sucking in general, like our much beloved Megane Kakeru.

Luckily for him, though, Megane is miximaxed with Yamano Ban, the (somewhat) charismatic protagonist of the Danball Senki series! And if you’re thinking, “hey, you cheeky little bastard! You always say you will only use one character from each franchise and you’ve already used Hiro before!,” I’ll kindly redirect you to this ancient post where I said that I may use up to two characters from L5 franchises if the matches were nice enough. And considering I thought of this one waaay before I thought of Toramaru’s, I really wanted to make use of that exception. I asked @great-blaster about her opinion on something related to this miximax around... 4 years ago, so go figure.

Well, that was one long intro. More information regarding Megane’s miximax can be found under the cut. As it used to happen back when I was, you know, not lazy.

Okay, so! It’s been a while, we’re all excited about Ares coming out soon and we could use a little action, so let’s focus on Megane’s powers! This whole poor mood has kept me from doing some actual and proper thinking, but I think writing will help me come up with ideas for him on the go, so let’s tackle it one subject at a time.

First of all, let’s start what the one thing I do know, and one of the main reasons to want Ban as an aura. Ban is a scout character in Chrono Stone and Galaxy, and he has an exclusive hissatsu technique that no other character in the game can use, simply because it involves the use of Ban’s LBX. This hissatsu is called Glorious Ray, and is taken straight from Danball Senki W, where it’s one of Ban’s strongest attack functions (the DanSen equivalent of Inazuma’s special techniques). And, gosh, am I a sucker for exclusive things. So of course it’d be a very deciding factor and one of MegaBan’s main perks.

Glorious Ray isn’t just an exclusive technique, but a really, really powerful one. Just so you can get an idea, in Galaxy, it has a base power of 190, while The Earth ∞, a 3-player combo hissatsu that is supposed to be one of the strongest techniques in the game, has a base power of 200. Definitely not something to mess with. And while it is indeed very overpowered, this matches Megane perfectly too.

Those who haven’t played the games wouldn’t know, but Megane is prone to learning extremely powerful techniques when he reaches very high levels. His abilities include Divine Arrow, Chaos Break, Fuurinkazan Destroyer, Saikyou Eleven Hadou and even the aforementioned The Earth ∞. Truly a force to reckon, even if his stats still let him down. In any case, learning terribly overpowered hissatsus is common for him, and getting one more suits him perfectly.

Now, this covers the first hissatsu, but not the second one. A quick look at Inazuma’s wiki will tell us that Ban learns 3 other moves: Odin Sword, Decoy Release and Fukutsu no Seishin. We may choose one of these or try to come up with a whole new one, so let’s see.

Odin Sword is completely out of the question. This is Fideo’s hissatsu and I love him too much to steal his technique so cheaply. In my heart, the only person who can use Odin Sword besides Fideo is Handa. ...Whoops, my bias is showing. Excuse me.

Decoy Release maaay work, but I don’t especially dig it. It feels so out of place. You wouldn’t relate this technique to Ban at all, so it isn’t tempting to add it to the mix.

And last, but not least, we have Fukutsu no Seishin. If you don’t feel like checking the wiki, I’ll tell you that Fukutsu no Seishin is a skill that improves a character’s hissatsus when he or she is tired. This does suit Ban, since *+*+*drama*+*+* forces him to have clutch wins all the time. ww When you are tired and almost dead is when you awaken your true power, and let’s be honest--Megane spends most of his time in the field tired and almost dead, so this could actually prove to be a wonderful skill for him to have. Not to mention that staying mixitransed is said to drain you very fast (and it does in the games), so he would be able to activate this ability quite early on.

What is the bad thing, then? Well... in terms of *+*+*drama*+*+* and general Inazuma storytelling, skills aren’t the most... interesting things. We want explosions and quick moves and stuff, not a skill that suddenly activates out of the blue and makes you stronger. ...Then again, Pokémon DP based Ash’s Chimchar’s power entirely on his Blaze ability. If they could do that, I guess I can too. I guess.

But, yeah. I’ll keep this for now since it’s pretty much the perfect skill for Megane, but I’ll see if I can come up with something better.

(I doubt it.)

With that out of the way, let’s jump into what hissatsu would get powered up by this miximax. The easy answer is... none. You see, Megane and Ban fit so well together, but, for the most part, Megane’s hissatsus don’t fit him at all. The only ones that fit him are Megane Crash (obviously), Perfect Course, the ever-present Yakubyougami, maybe Future Eye... and Super Scan. And, if I had to choose, this last hissatsu would be the one getting the miximax boost.

Super Scan, a game-exclusive technique that has two different versions (an offensive one and a defensive one, both of which Megane can use), involves a bunch of screens appearing around the user, which tell them how the rival will move and how to counter him/her, whether it is to steal the ball or to dribble. The single reason why this could work is because, much like MegaBan has access to Ban’s LBX, he also has access to his CCM! The little phone-like thing they use to control the LBXs, that is.

Now, these CCMs have screens--and multiple ones, at times. Couldn’t MegaBan check all the information that Super Scan provides from his CCM, which would make it more accurate due to the use of, well, actual technology rather than sheer Inazuma logic? Well, there’s a thought. I’m not sure if it’s a thought I’ll actually develop, but there’s a thought.

This, however, gives me a new and exciting idea. Those who have watched Danball Senki will know (and if you haven’t and you plan to do so, spoiler ahead for the rest of the paragraph) that some LBXs and users can use special modes to power themselves up in the middle of the fight. It certainly would be useful to be able to have a power-up of that kind for Megane and for Toramaru. Some kind of WX/WV Mode to use in the aforementioned clutches. In terms of Inazuma logic, this could be some Chara Change/alter ego thing with some kind of time restriction, a hissatsu tactics of sorts or even a skill that requires to be losing to activate, like Never Give Up. There are so many possibilities, thankfully!

End of spoilers here. You may read on. ww

Now, for the last subject to cover, we find ourselves stuck. An impasse, so to speak.

I always think about how a miximax affects the vessel’s natural abilities. What changes? Which of the vessel’s abilities improve? Which don’t? Incidentally, which do actually get worse? And how do these changes make the vessel a more unique player?

Well, the thing is that Megane has no skills. He sucks. Not like Handa, but for real. He was, quite literally, completely useless before the miximax, so we really don’t have anything to work with. His only redeeming point, if we may call it that, are his super strong hissatsus, which are often nearly useless with such poor stats (save for a couple of games where he was made to be sliiightly better. But let’s roll with the general “forever shitty” tone).

This means that Megane is... nothing. He is a proper zero. He has no real skills to add to, save for a ludicrously high luck stat in Chrono Stone and Galaxy--the only games where Ban is a playable character. So we can assume that Megane + Ban = lucky Ban. In that case, let’s look at Ban and see what we can do.

Ban boasts an impressive kick stat--better than young Gouenji’s and just as good as Ishido’s. He’s definitely a powerhouse with super good hissatsus to boot. We are quite over the whole “look at how powerful I am” thing--if we just want power, we can resort to GouYuu or SomeKyu, for example. So, no. Sheer power isn’t quite enough anymore.

There is, however, a way to make MegaBan special without making weird things up and respecting the actual information provided by the canon of the games.

We have a fast and powerful striker--GouYuu. We have a massive powerhouse that hits like a truck despite being slow--SomeKyu. We have a witty and tricky striker who plays mindgames on his rivals--MaxLink. And... a few undescribed forwards, too. ww But MegaBan relies on an entirely different concept to make him special and... usable. Worthy.

MegaBan is the Crit King.

In the Inazuma games, much like in any other RPG, our characters may perform critical moves, which end up being heaps stronger than they would normally be. Incidentally, they may also miss, which means the move will be heaps weaker than usual. Whether a character is prone to crits or to misses is based on its luck stat and not on the move used.

Megane has a huge luck stat, as mentioned, which means many of his moves will be critical. With such terrible stats, however, even his crits won’t be anything special. Nothing to be too proud of.

Megane, however, is miximaxed with Ban, who boasts a power that can rival that of adult ace strikers like Gouenji even though he’s still a kid. He is an all-around great player, but probably not all that special compared to the rest of the members of this big miximax team.

But an above average striker who lands crits continuously, thus improving not only the strength of his shots, but the strength of absolutely everything he does, is a whole different matter. MegaBan’s actual strength is constantly being multiplied due to his sheer dumb luck (and, potentially, the aforementioned skills), thus improving his shots, dribbles and steals greatly. Definitely a very multitalented forward and a great addition to the team, if you ask me.

...At least, for as long as he can stay mixitransed. Or for as long as his natural skill Yakubyougami doesn’t play tricks on him.

#Megane Kakeru #original Raimon #settei #Inazuma Eleven #miximax #mixi max #info #powers

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waynekelton · 4 years

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GWENT Tips - How to get started on mobile

It’s already past its one-year anniversary on PC and has been through significant changes but Gwent is finally here on mobile. It is such a timely and refreshing CCG and, sure, it’s a beloved IP and has an incredible amount of visual effects and polish. It’s pretty and feature-rich upon launch, what with resounding audio effects, detailed orchestral scoring and flashy premium card animations.

Gwent is a powerhouse because in its innermost guts, the game’s structure is radically different from the competition. It isn’t a battle per se but rather a power struggle between two players to keep a higher total across three rounds. Card advantage is incredibly important, and the drawing and hand management mechanics almost minimize the RNG of top-decking entirely. It has a massive cardpool with tantalizing synergies across the various factions. In this guide we’ll be covering basic play, deckbuilding strategies, its currency system, and lastly some best practices to outmanoeuvre the game’s monetisation scheme.

GWENT Mobile Tips

How do I play Gwent?

What are the microtransactions like?

What are my progression rewards?

How do the different factions work?

What is a Gwentsday?

How does the Arena work, and why should I bother?

What are the optional cosmetics like?

Tell me about seasonal play and limited formats.

How should I spend my time in-game to maximise my rewards?

What makes Gwent different from the competition?

What’s the big fuss about Thronebreaker and where is it?

GWENT Android version?

How do I play GWENT?

GWENT is available as a free-to-play game on iOS and Android (and PC).

A match of Gwent is a best-of-three rounds. The active player plays one card from their hand per turn and resolves its effect, then passes play to their opponent. Most cards are units which add their power to its owner’s total. To win a round, simply have the greatest power total when your opponent passes. To enliven things, Gwent’s draw structure is rather unique: 10 cards for each player to start, then three additional draws at the start of the second and third rounds. There are mulligans for each round, so decks are very consistent.

What are GWENT's micro-transactions like?

Relatively tasteful and par for the course. There are introductory specials which are the absolute best bang for your buck, but beside the cash shop Ore is used to craft ‘kegs’ which are card packs. Scraps are for creating specific cards and are gained normally but also by ‘milling’ or converting unwanted cards. Lastly, meteorites are purely cosmetic and makes a given card ‘premium’ by adding an animation to it. Because kegs made through in-game currency are locked to a specific set, your best bet to get specific cards through crafting. The meta has been pretty unpredictable so far in this past year, so don’t spend too quickly.

GWENT progression rewards

Each match won gives ore. Each level gives reward keys, which are used in the reward book to unlock skins and oodles of in-game currency. In the beginning, the game treats you to a sweet honeymoon phase, showering you with keys which jump-start whichever dream deck you aim for. The biggest one is hitting level 60, thereafter barrels will always contain an extra rare. This is just one of many ways Gwent rewards experience over expense. (Time over cash). It has a rush of freebies which should be spent advisedly.

GWENT Factions

Each faction has an exclusive pool of cards and leader abilities, as well as a few key mechanics that cement their unique identity. The Northern Realms are all about a generalist approach, with about equal options for buffing friendlies and debuffing the opposition, with some utility thrown in. The Scoia’Tael are the non-human sentients, representing the mystical races like elves and dwarves along with some more exotic denizens.

They have special bonuses for diverse unit sub-types and a heavy reliance on their unique Trap cards, setting up giant reactions to enemy moves. The Skellige are the ghoulish and morbid faction, with plenty of self-sacrifice and graveyard interactions. Death is just another resource to them, and their decks tend to be strongest at the finish line. Monsters are dynamic, swelling their ranks and devouring each other. They have the biggest creatures and the largest swarms.

What is a Gwentsday?

Every Wednesday is Gwentsday and has bonus experience for every match. The game is always doing timed promotions like this, either for different factions or else to promote a new set or season start. Basically just either follow them on social media or simply peruse the landing page in-game for a notice about any time-sensitive bonuses.

How does the Arena work, and why should I bother?

The arena is Gwent’s draft format wherein you build a deck by selecting cards one at a time from a batch of offerings. The resulting deck, which is assembled without respect to provision costs, is used until you lose three matches or win nine. At the end of the run, you get a payout depending on how well you did. The cost of entry is a little higher than the price of a keg, but a keg is also part of the guaranteed reward bundle for participating, so the Arena is worthwhile if you like the creativity and flexibility required by the draft format.

It takes a lot of experience and familiarity with the entire card pool to draft quickly and confidently.

GWENT deckbuilding tips

First, consider your starting faction and leader ability. These should be selected based on the cards already unlocked and personal playstyle preferences. Each deck must have at least twenty-five cards, twenty-three units and be under the provision limit. Stronger or more distinctive cards have higher provision costs, as displayed in the bottom right. The deck editor has robust filters for sorting which cards you want. Use the search function to hone in on specific keywords and synergies you want, and craft a few clutch additions, and you’ll have a custom deck in no time.

What are the optional cosmetics like?

There are leader skins, which alter your commander’s outfit and appearance. Premium card versions display a short looping animation, really makes the cards pop and come alive. Player avatar icons are unlocked either through the reward book or else exclusively through achievements. There are also avatar borders, card backs and battleground skins as well. Please note that most if not all of these are unlocked through consistent play and doled as rewards for highly specific achievements. Animated cards are premium and can be purchased at-will, but the more prestigious cosmetics simply depend on long-term investment, though a few glamorous ones are also sold directly for pure cash.

GWENT seasonal play and limited formats

Each month has its own special format with a unique twist on the default rules. The current season, for example, gives every unit Resilience and keeps it around from round-to-round unless destroyed. Simple to read and understand the change, but it has massive implications for deckbuilding. Each season has its own unique reward and title unlocks, so going deep into a given season is much better than splitting your time evenly throughout the year. The rule shifts in this optional formal create a side meta which is never the same twice.

How should I spend my time in-game to maximize my rewards?

Login and do your daily quests. Also, plot a direct course between your existing collection and the next card or two you want. This means researching deck archetypes and making a budget to streamline the path between your current setup and the next best thing. Have a decent deck for each of the factions, but be as specific and focused as possible.

For the most bang for your buck, simply imitate the leaders or a specific synergy. Invest in some high quality neutral cards, like the Witchers, who are all conditionally strong and can be slotted into a variety of decks.

GWENT vs. Hearthstone vs. everyone else

Theme, progression and gameplay. For any Reiner Knizia fans out there, Gwent owes a good bit of its heart to Blue Moon. Even though a single match of Gwent doesn’t take more turns than Hearthstone, it feels so much more tense because of the structure. Every single card matters immensely. Card advantage is king, and efficiency is the dominant paradigm. Deckbuilding is incredibly intense, and matches often come down to a single decision.

Progression is generous, with the game offering in-game currency for daily logins, for played matches, level-ups and achievements. It has more systems in place to unlock cards for free than almost any other game out there, except for perhaps Eternal. Lastly, for anyone with a bit of familiarity or fondness for the Witcher books or games, this game is full of flavor text and allusions. All of the major characters are cards and their characters have been well-translated into in game effects.

What’s the big fuss about Thronebreaker and where is it?

Thronebreaker is Gwent’s standalone single-player expansion. It has matches spanning a pretty long campaign with cel-shaded graphics and voice acting as well as an original storyline with some choose-your-own adventure flavor. It came out a little over a year ago and is a premium companion game to Gwent, though it serves as a robust introduction. It’s still worth recommending for PC users but has no sign of making the leap to mobile anytime soon.

Do you have any tips of your own, or further question about GWENT? Let us know in the comments!

GWENT Tips - How to get started on mobile published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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nightmareonfilmstreet · 6 years

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JASON LIVES: The Unlikely Farce That (Briefly) Revived a Powerhouse Franchise

August 1st marks thirty-two years since the theatrical release of Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI, director Tom McLoughlin’s satirical, gothic horror-inspired contribution to the Jason Voorhees saga. The film’s tongue-in-cheek humor and persistent eagerness to poke fun at itself was a considerable shift in tone for the Friday series, but clearly not an unwelcome one; after three decades and six additional films, Jason Lives today sits proudly near the top of the franchise in terms of fan appreciation.

More crucial than the film’s favorable audience reception though, is how the success of Jason Lives likely extended the life span of the popular slasher series, an aspect of the film that is often overlooked.

The Friday the 13th franchise was at serious risk of crashing and burning in 1985 after the wildly unpopular Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning, which infamously neglected to put Jason in the film. Though A New Beginning opened at #1 and cleaned up to the tune of nearly $22 million overall, fans were furious that their favorite masked murderer was left out of the fun. Paramount Pictures got an earful, and quickly began plotting Jason’s return.

Longtime Friday producer Frank Mancuso, Jr. was unhappy with the crass nudity and exceedingly violent nature of A New Beginning, and sought out a director who would take things in a different direction. Mancuso chose Tom McLoughlin, a young writer/director with only one completed feature to his name.

In 1983, McLoughlin earned notice for his film One Dark Night, which centered around a small group of teens forced to survive an evening inside a haunted mausoleum. This film, combined with McLoughlin’s well-known interest in comedy projects, intrigued Mancuso. McLoughlin was brought on board and given the latitude to write and direct Friday VI in his own style, the only mandate being that Jason must return and be the film’s villain.

McLoughlin, a lifelong fan of classic monster movies, drew heavily on those influences when conceiving his project. Regarding the opening sequence of Jason Lives, McLoughlin says:

“I wanted to start off right away with…a kind of a classic gothic opening. I love these kinds of movies, probably from my love of Hammer horror movies I grew up with that immediately set an atmosphere and a mood with the opening shots.”

In his commentary track for the blu-ray release of the film, McLoughlin continually points out the gothic touches he used to define his picture, from elements as simple as a sky full of dark, threatening clouds and smoke-heavy sets, to the obvious monster movie nod that is Jason’s resurrection sequence, saying: “whether you want to accept it or not, (this is) the way I chose to bring (Jason) back from the dead; the old Frankenstein lightning bolt brings life.”

McLoughlin also includes a great deal of genre references throughout Jason Lives, both classic and contemporary.

For instance, late in the film Tommy Jarvis makes a call from a phone booth outside “Karloff’s General Store”, a nod to legendary horror actor Boris Karloff. There are dropped lines about “Cunningham Road” – the original Friday the 13th was directed by Sean S. Cunningham – and the town of “Carpenter” – Halloween director John Carpenter. The character Sheriff Garris is named after McLoughlin’s friend and fellow horror director Mick Garris (Critters 2, Psycho IV). Perhaps most unabashedly, Jason Lives features a character delivering the line, “I’ve seen enough horror movies to know any weirdo wearing a mask is never friendly.”

One of my personal favorites is a scene where an elderly gravedigger discovers Jason’s violated burial plot and begins shoveling dirt back into the hole. “Why’d they have to go and dig up Jason?”, he asks before looking directly into the camera and declaring, “Some folks have a strange idea of entertainment.”

McLoughlin’s referential sense of fun extends far beyond the horror genre. One of the most famous examples is when a newly-resurrected Jason dons the hockey mask just prior to the opening credits. The camera zooms toward one of his eyes, upon which a parody of the famous James Bond “gun barrel” opening plays out, with Jason slashing a gushing wound into the screen in place of a gun shot. McLoughlin comments:

“I was hoping that would set the tone immediately on…what kind of movie I was going to be make here. Something that was going to be not just another Jason movie, but kind of an homage to the other slasher films as well as sort of a satirization of them at the same time.”

Incorporating so much humor into the film was certainly a risk, and a choice that put McLoughlin at odds with producers, who demanded more gore. The initial cut of Jason Lives already featured over a dozen murders – including the memorable triple-decapitation of some merry corporate retreaters – but McLoughlin was forced to add three bodies to the heap as well as extend the death of Sissy in an attempt to make the film feel more violent.

Even without these additions, Jason Lives boasts several entertaining kill scenes, including an impressively accurate knife toss, a fiery Winnebago crash, and a cabin interior that has been quite literally bathed in blood. The latter of these includes a closeup on a bowl of bloody popcorn, an image that always makes me cringe. Of all the murders in Jason Lives, my personal favorite has to be poor Sheriff Garris, who is bent completely backwards like a folding chair after attacking Jason with a rock. The effect is cartoonish, but convincing, and the embellished crunch sound effect is a lot of fun.

When Jason Lives opened in 1986, Paramount again earned a pretty penny, though it seems many audience members felt too burned by A New Beginning to give Jason another chance; part VI was the first sequel that failed to open at #1. Even so, fans – and even some critics – were impressed with McLoughlin’s film, and the redemption of the Friday the 13th franchise was on.

Now, thirty-two years later, I can’t help but imagine what this series might have looked like had Jason Lives not been a success.

For comparison, when Halloween III: Season of the Witch removed Michael Myers from the equation in 1982, fans had to wait a full six years before being given a proper sequel. Halloween 4 was less adroit at course correction than Jason Lives, and featured a very New Beginning-esque fake-out finale that was immediately retconned in the quickie follow-up. By 1988, the Halloween series had hit a dead-end, and only two installments were produced during the next decade.

I can’t help but think that Friday the 13th would have followed a similar trajectory had Jason Lives not re-energized genre audiences with its cheeky, fan-friendly approach. Consider that if Jason had gone on hiatus in 1986, fans may never have been introduced to Kane Hodder, who was cast as Jason for the first time in the next film. Hodder is considered by many to be the premier Jason, having contributed a signature arsenal of movements and gestures that makes every post-Hodder Jason feel off. Hodder is also a staple of horror conventions, and is known for his graciousness and enthusiasm with Friday fans.

It’s not a stretch to say that Jason Lives may be responsible for leading us to Hodder, who I consider to be the franchise’s most valuable addition since the hockey mask. Hodder is not only an effective performer in the role, but a willing ambassador for the brand that has helped keep fan interest alive for decades. It’s difficult to imagine the franchise remaining so strong without him, and we have Tom McLoughlin to thank.

The eventual decline of Friday the 13th – in this author’s eyes, at least – was fueled by Jason Takes Manhattan in 1988. Paramount execs must have short memories because they made almost the same pivotal mistake with that film as they did with A New Beginning. The advertising teased a fun romp with Jason in a comically absurd scenario, and instead delivered a very dull Jason-at-sea movie. Only a few scenes of New York even made it into the final film, and most of the city scenes were actually filmed in Vancouver. Again, fans were handed a bag of beans for their ticket money, and this second betrayal led to the ultimate sale of the property to New Line Cinema and the longest gap between installments to that point in the series’ history.

Since then we’ve been given an uneven collection of mostly stand-alone Jason films that have never quite risen to the level of those beloved Paramount releases from the early and mid-eighties. I still have a lot of love for this franchise, but it’s never been the same since Jason sailed away on The Lazarus thirty years ago. Bon voyage, childhood hero.

Jason’s demise was inevitable, all slasher heroes struggle to find work sooner or later. But thanks to Tom McLoughlin and Jason Lives, my favorite slasher was able to extended his career, even for just a few bloody good years, and for that I’ll always be grateful.

For more horror retrospectives and reviews, stayed tuned with us here at Nightmare on Film Street.

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2019 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 2)

20. FROZEN 2 – so, another year, then, and once again Disney doesn’t QUITE manage to net the animated feature top spot on my list, but it’s not for lack of trying – this long-awaited sequel to the studio’s runaway hit musical fantasy adventure is just what we’ve come to love from the House of Mouse, but more importantly it’s a most worthy sequel, easily on a par with the much beloved origin. Not much of a surprise given the welcome return of all the key people, from directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee (who also once again wrote the screenplay) to composer Christophe Beck and songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, as well as all the key players in the cast. It’s business as usual in the kingdom of Arendelle, where all is seemingly peaceful and tranquil, but Queen Elsa (Idina Menzel) is restless, haunted by a distant voice that only she can hear, calling to her from a mysterious past she just can’t place … and then she accidentally awakens the four elemental spirits, sending her homeland into mystical turmoil, prompting her to embark on a desperate search for answers with her sister Princess Anna (Kristen Bell), ice harvester Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), his faithful reindeer companion Sven, and, of course, living snowman Olaf (Josh Gad). Their quest leads them into the Enchanted Forest of Northuldra, a neighbouring kingdom, ruled by simple, elemental magic, that has remained cut off from Arendelle for decades, where they discover dark, hidden truths about their own family’s past and must make peace with the spirits if they’re to save their home and their people. So, typical Disney family fantasy fare, then, right? Well, Frozen 2 certainly dots all the Is and crosses all the Ts, but, like the original, this is no jaded blockbuster money spinner, packed with the same kind of resonant power, skilful inventiveness and pure, show-stopping WOW-factor as its predecessor, but more importantly this is a sequel that effectively carves out a fresh identity for itself, brilliantly taking the world and characters in interesting new directions to create something fresh, rewarding and worthwhile on its own merit. The returning cast are all as strong as ever, Menzel and Bell in particular ably powering the story, while it’s nice to see both Groff and Gad getting something new to do with their own characters too, even nabbing their own major musical numbers; there’s also a welcome slew of fresh new faces to this world, particular Sterling K. Brown (This is Us, Black Panther, The Predator) as lost Anrendelle soldier Mattias and former Brat Pack star Martha Plimpton as Yelena, leader of the lost tribe of Northuldra. Once again this is Disney escapism at its very best, a heart-warming, soul-nourishing powerhouse of winning humour, emotional power and child-like wonder, but like the first film the biggest selling point is, of course, that KILLER soundtrack, with every song here a total hit, not one dud among them, and there are even ear-worms here to put Let It Go to shame – Into the Unknown was touted as the major hit, and it is impressive, but I was particularly affected by Groff’s unashamedly full-bore rendition of Lost in the Woods, a bona fide classic rock power ballad crafted in the fashion of REO Speedwagon, while the undeniable highlight for me is the unstoppable Show Yourself, with Menzel once again proving that her incredible voice is a natural force all in itself. Altogether, then, this is an absolute feast for the eyes, the ears AND the soul, every inch the winner that its predecessor was and also EASILY one of Disney’s premier animated features for the decade. So it’s quite the runner-up, then …

19. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD – since his explosion onto the scene twenty-seven years ago with his runaway smash debut Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino has become one of the most important filmmakers of his generation, a true master of the cinematic art form who consistently delivers moving picture masterpieces that thrill, entertain, challenge and amuse audiences worldwide … at least those who can stomach his love of unswerving violence, naughty talk and morally bankrupt antiheroes and despicably brutal villains who are often little more than a shade different from one another. Time has moved on, though, and while he’s undoubtedly been one of the biggest influences on the way cinema has changed over the past quarter century, there are times now that it’s starting to feel like the scene is moving on in favour of younger, fresher blood with their own ideas. I think Tarantino can sense this himself, because he recently made a powerful statement – after he’s made his tenth film, he plans to retire. Given that OUATIH is his NINTH film, that deadline is already looming, and we unashamed FANS of his films are understandably aghast over this turn of events. Thankfully he remains as uncompromisingly awesome a writer-director as ever, delivering another gold standard five-star flick which is also most definitely his most PERSONAL work to date, quite simply down to the fact that it’s a film ABOUT film. Sure, it has a plot (of sorts, anyway), revolving around the slow decline of the career of former TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo Dicaprio), who languishes in increasing anonymity in Hollywood circa 1969 as his former western hero image is being slowly eroded by an increasingly hacky workload guest-starring on various syndicated shows as a succession of punching-bag heavies for the hero to wale on, while his only real friend is his one-time stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), a former WW2 hero with a decidedly tarnished reputation of his own; meanwhile new neighbours have moved in next door to further distract him – hot-as-shit young director Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha), riding high on the success of Rosemary’s Baby, and his new wife Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). Certainly this all drives the film, along with real-life events involving one of the darkest crimes in modern American history, but a lot of the time the plot is largely coincidental – Quentin uses it as a springboard to wax lyrical about his very favourite subject and pay loving (if sometimes irreverently satirical) tribute to the very business he’s been indulging in with such great success since 1992. Sure, it’s also about “Helter Skelter” and the long shadow cast by Charles Manson and his band of murderous misfits, but this is largely incidental, as we’re treated to long, entertaining interludes as we follow Rick on a shoot as the bad guy in the pilot for the Lancer TV series, visit the notorious Spahn Ranch with Cliff as he’s unwittingly drawn into the lion’s den of the deadly Manson Family, join Robbie’s Tate as she watches “herself” in The Wrecking Crew, and enjoy a brilliant montage in which we follow Rick’s adventures in Spaghetti westerns (and Eurospy cinema) after he’s offered a chance to change his flagging fortunes, before the film finally builds to a seemingly inevitable, fateful conclusion that Tarantino then, in sneakily OTT Inglourious Basterds style, mischievously turns on its head with a devilish game of “What If”. The results are a thoroughly engrossing and endlessly entertaining romp through the seedier side of Hollywood and a brilliant warts-and-all examination of the craft’s inner workings that, interestingly, reveals as much about the Business today as it does about how it was way back in the Golden Age the film portrays, all while delivering bucket-loads of QT’s trademark cool, swagger, idiosyncratic genius and to-die-for dialogue and character-work, and, of course, a typically exceptional all-star cast firing on all cylinders. Dicaprio and Pitt are both spectacular (Brad is endearingly taciturn, playing it wonderfully close to the vest throughout, while Leo is simply ON FIRE, delivering a mercurial performance EASILY on a par with his work on Shutter Island and The Wolf of Wall Street – could this be good enough to snag him a second Oscar?), while Robbie consistently endears us to Tate as she EFFORTLESSLY brings the fallen star back to life, and there’s an incredible string of amazing supporting turns from established talent and up-and-comers alike, from Kurt Russell, Al Pacino and a very spiky Bruce Dern to Mike Moh (in a FLAWLESS take on Bruce Lee), Margaret Qualley, Austin Butler and in particular Julia Butters as precocious child star Trudi Fraser. Packed with winning references, homages, pastiches and ingenious little in-jokes, handled with UTMOST respect for the true life subjects at all times and shot all the way through with his characteristic flair and quirky, deliciously dark sense of humour, this is cinema very much of the Old School, and EVERY INCH a Tarantino flick. With only one more film to go the implied end of his career seems much too close, but if he delivers one more like this he’ll leave behind a legacy that ANY filmmaker would be proud of.

18. CRAWL – summer 2019’s runner-up horror offering marks a rousing return to form for a genre talent who’s FINALLY delivered on the impressive promise of his early work – Alexandre Aja made a startling debut with Switchblade Romance, which led to his big break helming the cracking remake of slasher stalwart The Hills Have Eyes, but then he went SPECTACULARLY off the rails when he made the truly abysmal Piranha 3D, which I wholeheartedly regard as one of THE VERY WORST FILMS EVER MADE IN ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY. He took a big step back in the right direction with the admittedly flawed but ultimately enjoyable and evocative Horns (based on the novel by Stephen King’s son Joe Hill), but it’s with this stripped back, super-tight man-against-nature survival horror that the Aja of old has TRULY returned to us. IN SPADES. Seriously, I personally think this is his best film to date – there’s no fat on it at all, going from a simple set-up STRAIGHT into a precision-crafted exercise in sustained tension that relentlessly grips right up to the end credits. The film is largely just a two-hander – Maze Runner star Kaya Scodelario plays Haley Keller, a Florida college student and star swimmer who ventures into the heart of a Category 5 hurricane to make sure her estranged father, Dave (Saving Private Ryan’s Barry Pepper), is okay after he drops off the grid. Finding their old family home in a state of disrepair and slowly flooding, she does a last minute check of the crawl-space underneath, only to discover her father badly wounded and a couple of hungry alligators stalking the dark, cramped, claustrophobic confines. With the flood waters rising and communications cut off, Haley and Dave must use every reserve of strength, ingenuity and survival instinct to keep each other alive in the face of increasingly daunting odds … even with a premise this simple, there was plenty of potential for this to become an overblown, clunky mess in the wrong hands (a la Snakes On a Plane), so it’s a genuinely great thing that Aja really is back at the height of his powers, milking every fraught and suspenseful set-piece to its last drop of exquisite piano-wire tension and putting his actors through hell without a reprieve in sight. Thankfully it’s not JUST about scares and atmosphere – there’s a genuinely strong family drama at the heart of the story that helps us invest in these two, Scodelario delivering a phenomenally complex performance as she peels back Haley’s layers, from stubborn pedant, through vulnerable child of divorce, to ironclad born survivor, while reconnecting with her emotionally raw, repentantly open father, played with genuine naked intensity in a career best turn from Pepper. Their chemistry is INCREDIBLY strong, making every scene a joy even as it works your nerves and tugs on your heartstrings, and as a result you DESPERATELY want to see them make it out in one piece. Not that Aja makes it easy for them – the gators are an impressively palpable threat, proper scary beasties even if they are largely (admittedly impressively executed) digital effects, while the storm is almost a third character in itself, becoming as much of an elemental nemesis as its scaly co-stars. Blessedly brief (just 87 minutes!) and with every second wrung out for maximum impact, this is survival horror at its most brutally, simplistically effective, a deliciously vicious, primal chill-ride that thoroughly rewards from start to finish. Welcome back, Mr Aja. We’ve missed you.

17. SHAZAM! – there were actually THREE movies featuring Captain Marvel out in 2019, but this offering from the hit-and-miss DCEU cinematic franchise is a very different beast from his MCU-based namesake, and besides, THIS Cap long ago ditched said monicker for the far more catchy (albeit rather more oddball) title that graces Warner Bros’ last step back on the right track for their superhero Universe following the equally enjoyable Aquaman and franchise high-point Wonder Woman. Although he’s never actually referred to in the film by this name, Shazam (Chuck’s Eugene Levy) is the magically-powered alternate persona bestowed upon wayward fifteen year-old foster kid Billy Batson (Andi Mack’s Asher Angel) by an ancient wizard (Djimon Hounsou) seeking one pure soul to battle Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), a morally corrupt physicist who turns into a monstrous supervillain after becoming the vessel for the spiritual essences of the Seven Deadly Sins (yup, that thoroughly batshit setup is just the tip of the iceberg of bonkersness on offer in this movie). Yes, this IS set in the DC Extended Universe, Shazam sharing his world with Superman, Batman, the Flash et al, and there are numerous references (both overt and sly) to this fact throughout (especially in the cheeky animated closing title sequence), but it’s never laboured, and the film largely exists in its own comfortably enclosed narrative bubble, allowing us to focus on Billy, his alter ego and in particular his clunky (but oh so much fun) bonding experiences with his new foster family, headed by former foster kid couple Victor and Rosa Vazquez (The Walking Dead’s Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans) – the most enjoyably portions of the film, however, are when Billy explores the mechanics and limits of his newfound superpowers with his new foster brother Freddy Freeman (It Chapter 1’s Jack Dylan Glazer), a consistently hilarious riot of bad behaviour, wanton (often accidental) destruction and perfectly-observed character development, the blissful culmination of a gleefully anarchic sense of humour that, until recently, has been rather lacking in the DCEU but which is writ large in bright, wacky primary colours right through this film. Sure, there are darker moments, particularly when Sivana sets loose his fantastic icky brood of semi-corporeal monsters, and these scenes are handled with seasoned skill by director David F. Sandberg, who cut his teeth on ingenious little horror gem Lights Out (following up with Annabelle: Creation, but we don’t have to dwell on that), but for the most part the film is played for laughs, thrills and pure, unadulterated FUN, almost never taking itself too seriously, essentially intended to do for the DCEU what Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man did for the MCU, and a huge part of its resounding success must of course be attributed to the universally willing cast. Eugene Levy’s so ridiculously pumped-up he almost looks like a special effect all on his own, but he’s lost none of his razor-sharp comic ability, perfectly encapsulating a teenage boy in a grown man’s body, while his chemistry with genuine little comedic dynamo Glazer is simply exquisite, a flawless balance shared with Angel, who similarly excels at the humour but also delivers quality goods in some far more serious moments too, while the rest of Billy’s newfound family are all brilliant, particularly ridiculously adorable newcomer Faithe Herman as precocious little motor-mouth Darla; Djimon Hounsou, meanwhile, adds significant class and gravitas to what could have been a cartoonish Gandalf spoof, and Mark Strong, as usual, gives great bad guy as Sivana, providing just the right amount of malevolent swagger and self-important smirk to proceedings without ever losing sight of the deeper darkness within. All round, this is EXACTLY the kind of expertly crafted superhero package we’ve come to appreciate in the genre, another definite shot in the arm for the DCEU that holds great hope for the future of the franchise, and some of the biggest fun I had at the cinema this past year. Granted, it’s still not a patch on the MCU, but the quality gap finally seems to be closing …

16. ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL – y’know, there was a time when James Cameron was quite a prolific director, who could be counted upon to provide THE big event pic of the blockbuster season. These days, we’re lucky to hear from him once a decade, and now we don’t even seem to be getting that – the dream project Cameron’s been trying to make since the end of the 90s, a big live action adaptation of one of my favourite mangas of all time, Gunnm (or Battle Angel Alita to use its more well-known sobriquet) by Yukito Kishiro, has FINALLY arrived, but it isn’t the big man behind the camera here since he’s still messing around with his intended FIVE MOVIE Avatar arc. That said, he made a damn good choice of proxy to bring his vision to fruition – Robert Rodriguez is, of course, a fellow master of action cinema, albeit one with a much more quirky style, and this adap is child’s play to him, the creator of the El Mariachi trilogy and co-director of Frank Miller’s Sin City effortlessly capturing the dark, edgy life-and-death danger and brutal wonder of Kishiro’s world in moving pictures. 300 years after the Earth was decimated in a massive war with URM (the United Republics of Mars) known as “the Fall”, only one bastion of civilization remains – Iron City, a sprawling, makeshift community of scavengers that lies in the shadow of the floating city of Zalem, home of Earth’s remaining aristocracy. Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz) runs a clinic in Iron City customising and repairing the bodies of its cyborg citizens, from the mercenary “hunter killers” to the fast-living players of Motorball (a kind of supercharged mixture of Rollerball and Death Race), one day discovering the wrecked remains of a female ‘borg in the junkyard of scrap accumulated beneath Zalem. Finding her human brain is still alive, he gives her a new chassis and christens her Alita, raising her as best he can as she attempts to piece together her mysterious, missing past, only for them both to discover that the truth of her origins has the potential to tear their fragile little world apart forever. The Maze Runner trilogy’s Rosa Salazar is the heart and soul of the film as Alita (originally Gally in the comics), perfectly bringing her (literal) wide-eyed innocence and irrepressible spirit to life, as well as proving every inch the diminutive badass fans have been expecting – while her overly anime-styled look might have seemed a potentially jarring distraction in the trailers, Salazar’s mocap performance is SO strong you’ve forgotten all about it within the first five minutes, convinced she’s a real, flesh-and-metal character – and she’s well supported by an exceptional ensemble cast both new and well-established. Waltz is the most kind and sympathetic he’s been since Django Unchained, instilling Ido with a worldly warmth and gentility that makes him a perfect mentor/father-figure, while Spooksville star Keean Johnson makes a VERY impressive big screen breakthrough as Hugo, the streetwise young dreamer with a dark secret that Alita falls for in a big way, Jennifer Connelly is icily classy as Ido’s ex-wife Chiren, Mahershala Ali is enjoyably suave and mysterious as the film’s nominal villain, Vector, an influential but seriously shady local entrepreneur with a major hidden agenda, and a selection of actors shine through the CGI in various strong mocap performances, such as Deadpool’s Ed Skrein, Derek Mears, From Dusk Til Dawn’s Eiza Gonzalez and a thoroughly unrecognisable but typically awesome Jackie Earle Haley. As you’d expect from Rodriguez, the film delivers BIG TIME on the action front, unleashing a series of spectacular set-pieces that peak with Alita’s pulse-pounding Motorball debut, but there’s a pleasingly robust story under all the thrills and wow-factor, riffing on BIG THEMES and providing plenty of emotional power, especially in the heartbreaking character-driven climax – Cameron, meanwhile, has clearly maintained strict control over the project throughout, his eye and voice writ large across every scene as we’re thrust headfirst into a fully-immersive post-apocalyptic, rusty cyberpunk world as thoroughly fleshed-out as Avatar’s Pandora, but most importantly he’s still done exactly what he set out to do, paying the utmost respect to a cracking character as he brings her to vital, vivid life on the big screen. Don’t believe the detractors – this is a MAGNIFICENT piece of work that deserves all the recognition it can muster, perfectly set up for a sequel that I fear we may never get to see. Oh well, at least it’s renewed my flagging hopes for a return to Pandora …

15. AD ASTRA – last century, making a space exploration movie after 2001: A Space Odyssey was a pretty tall order. THIS century, looks like it’s trying to follow Chris Nolan’s Interstellar – love it or hate it, you can’t deny that particular epic space opera for the IMAX crowd is a REALLY tough act to follow. At first glance, then, writer-director James Gray (The Yards, We Own the Night) is an interesting choice to try, at least until you consider his last feature – he may be best known for understated, gritty little crime thrillers, but I was most impressed by 2016’s ambitious period biopic The Lost City of Z, which focused on the groundbreaking career of pioneering explorer Percy Fawcett, and couldn’t have been MORE about the indomitable spirit of discovery if it tried. His latest shares much of the same DNA, albeit presented in a VERY different package, as we’re introduced to a more expansive Solar System of the near future, in which humanity has begun to colonize our neighbouring worlds and is now pushing its reach beyond our own star’s light in order to discover what truly lies beyond the void of OUTER space. Brad Pitt stars as Major Roy McBride, a career astronaut whose whole life has been defined by growing up in the shadow of his father, H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), a true pioneer who led an unprecedented expedition to the orbit of our furthest neighbour, Neptune, in order to search for signs of intelligent life beyond our solar system, only for the whole mission to go quiet for the past sixteen years. Then a mysterious, interplanetary power surge throws the Earth into chaos, and Roy must travel farther than he’s ever gone before in order to discover the truth behind the source of the pulse – his father’s own ill-fated Lima Project … this is a very different beast from Interstellar, a much more introspective, stately affair, revelling in its glacial pacing and emphasis on character motivation over plot, but it’s no less impressive from a visual, visceral standpoint – Gray and cinematographer Hoyt van Hoytema (who, interestingly, ALSO shot Interstellar, along with Nolan’s Dunkirk and his upcoming feature Tenet) certainly make space look truly EPIC, crafting astonishing visuals that deserve to be seen on the big screen (or at the very least on the best quality HDTV you can find). There’s also no denying the quality of the writing, Gray weaving an intricate story that reveals far greater depth and complexity than can be seen at first glance, while Roy’s palpable “thought-process” voiceover puts us right into the head of the character as we follow him across the endless void on a fateful journey into a cosmic Heart of Darkness. There is, indeed, a strong sense of Apocalypse Now to proceedings, with the younger McBride definitely following a similar path to Martin Sheen’s ill-fated captain as he travels “up-river” to find his Colonel Kurtz-esque father, and the performances certainly match the heft of the material – there’s an impressive collection of talent on offer in a series of top-quality supporting turns, Jones being just the icing on the cake in the company of Donald Sutherland, Liv Tyler, John Ortiz and Preacher’s Ruth Negga, but the undeniable driving force of the film is Pitt, his cool, laconic control hiding uncharted depths of emotional turmoil as he’s forced to call every choice into question. It’s EASILY one of the finest performances of his career to date, just one of the MANY great selling points in a film that definitely deserves to be remembered as one of the all-time sci-fi greats of the decade. An absolute masterpiece, then, but does it stand tall in comparison to Interstellar? I should say so …

14. BRIGHTBURN – torpedoing Crawl right out of the water in the summer, this refreshing, revisionist superhero movie takes one of the most classic mythologies in the genre and turns it on its head in true horror style. The basic premise is an absolute blinder – what if, when he crashed in small-town America as a baby, Superman had turned out to be a bad seed? Unsurprising, then, that it came from James Gunn, who here produces a screenplay by his brother and cousin Brian and Mark Gunn (best known for penning the likes of Journey 2: the Mysterious Island, but nobody’s perfect) and the directorial big break of his old mate David Yarovesky (whose only previous feature is obscure sci-fi horror The Hive) – Gunn is, of course, an old pro at taking classic comic book tropes and creating something completely new with them, having previously done so with HUGE success on cult indie black comedy Super and, in particular, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and his fingerprints are ALL OVER this one too. The Hunger Games’ Elizabeth Banks (who starred in Gunn’s own directorial debut Slither) and David Denman (The Office) are Tori and Kyle Breyer, a farming couple living in Brightburn, Kansas, who are trying for a baby when a mysterious pod falls from the sky onto their land, containing an infant boy. As you’d expect, they adopt him, determined to keep his origin a secret, and for the first twelve years of his life all seems perfectly fine – Brandon’s growing up into an intelligent, artistic child who loves his family. Then his powers manifest and he starts to change – not just physically (he’s impervious to harm, incredibly strong, has laser eyes and the ability to disrupt electronic devices … oh, and he can fly, too), but also in personality, as he becomes cold, distant, even cruel as he begins to demonstrate some seriously sociopathic tendencies. As his parents begin to fear what he’s becoming, things begin to spiral out of control and people start to disappear or turn up brutally murdered, and it becomes clear that Brandon might actually be something out of a nightmare … needless to say this is superhero cinema as full-on horror, Brandon’s proclivities leading to some proper nasty moments once he really starts to cut loose, and there’s no mistaking this future super for one of the good guys – he pulverises bones, shatters faces and melts skulls with nary a twitch, just the tiniest hint of a smile. It’s an astonishing performance from newcomer Jackson A. Dunn, who perfectly captures the nuanced subtleties as Brandon goes from happy child to lethal psychopath, clearly demonstrating that he’s gonna be an incredible talent in future; the two grown leads, meanwhile, are both excellent, Denman growing increasingly haunted and exasperated as he tries to prove his own son is a wrong ‘un, while Banks has rarely been better, perfectly embodying a mother desperately wanting to belief the best of her son no matter how compelling the evidence becomes, and there’s quality support from Breaking Bad’s Matt Jones and Search Party’s Meredith Hagner as Brandon’s aunt and uncle, Noah and Meredith, and Becky Wahlstrom as the mother of one of his school-friends, who seems to see him for what he really is right from the start. Dark, suspenseful and genuinely nasty, this is definitely not your typical superhero movie, often playing like Kick-Ass’ deeply twisted cousin, and there are times when it displays some of the same edgy, black-hearted sense of humour, too. In other words, it’s all very James Gunn. It’s one sweet piece of work, everyone involved showing real skill and devotion, and Yarovesky in particular proves he’ll definitely be one-to-watch in the future. There are already plans for a potential sequel, and given where this particular little superhero universe seems to be heading I think it could be something pretty special, so fair to say I can’t wait.

13. STAR WARS EPISODE IX: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER – wow, this one’s proven particularly divisive, hasn’t it? And I thought The Last Jedi caused a stir … say what you will about Rian Johnson’s previous entry in the juggernaut science fiction saga, while it certainly riled up the hardcore fanbase it was at least well-received by the critics, not to mention myself, who found it refreshing and absolutely ingenious after the crowd-pleasing simplicity of JJ Abrams’ admittedly still thoroughly brilliant The Force Awakens. After such radical experimentation, Abrams’ return to the director’s chair can’t help feeling a bit like desperate backpedalling in order to sooth a whole lot of seriously ruffled feathers, and I’ll admit that, on initial viewing, I couldn’t help feeling just a touch cheated given what might have been if similarly offbeat, experimentally-minded filmmaker Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic World) had stayed on board to helm the picture. Then I got home, thought about it for a bit and it started to grow on me, before a second viewing helped me to reconcile all everything that bugged me first time around, seemingly the same things that have, perversely, ruffled so many more feathers THIS TIME. This doesn’t feel like a retcon job, no matter what some might think – new developments in the story that might feel like whitewash actually do make sense once you think about them, and the major twists actually work when viewed within the larger, overarching storyline. Not that I’m willing to go into any kind of detail here, mind you – this is a spoiler-free zone, thank you very much. Suffice to say, the honour of the saga has in no way been besmirched by Abrams and his co-writer Chris Terrio (sure, he worked on Batman V Superman and Justice League, but he also wrote Argo), the final film ultimately standing up very well indeed alongside its trilogy contemporaries, and still MILES ABOVE anything we got in George Lucas’ decidedly second-rate prequels. The dangling plot strands from The Last Jedi certainly get tied up with great satisfaction, particularly the decidedly loaded drama of new Jedi Rey (Daisy Ridley) and troubled First Order Supreme Leader Kylo Ren/Ben Solo (Adam Driver), while the seemingly controversial choice of reintroducing Ian McDiarmid’s fantastically monstrous Emperor Palpatine as the ultimate big bad ultimately works out spectacularly well, a far cry from any perceived botched fan-service. Everyone involved was clearly working at the height of their powers – Ridley and Driver are EXCEPTIONAL, both up-and-coming young leads truly growing into the their roles, while co-stars John Boyega and Oscar Isaac land a pleasingly meaty chunk of the story to finally get to really explore that fantastic chemistry they teased on The Last Jedi, and Carrie Fisher gets a truly MAGNIFICENT send off in the role that defined her as the incomparable General Leia Organa (one which it’s still heartbreaking she never quite got to complete); other old faces, meanwhile, return in fun ways, from Anthony Daniels’ C-3PO FINALLY getting to play a PROPER role in the action again to a brilliant supporting flourish from the mighty Billy Dee Williams as the Galaxy-Far-Far-Away’s own King of Cool, Lando Calrissian, while there’s a wealth of strong new faces here too, such as Lady Macbeth’s Naomie Ackie as rookie rebel Jannah, Richard E. Grant as suitably slimy former-Imperial First Order bigshot Allegiant General Pryde, The Americans’ Keri Russell as tough smuggler Zorii Bliss and Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan as Resistance tech Beaumont Kin. As fans have come to expect, Abrams certainly doesn’t skim on the spectacle, delivering bombastic thrill-ride set-pieces that yet again set the benchmark for the year’s action stakes (particularly in the blistering mid-picture showdown between Rey and Kylo among the wave-lashed remains of Return of the Jedi’s blasted Death Star) and awe-inspiring visuals that truly boggle the mind with their sheer beauty and complexity, but he also injects plenty of the raw emotion, inspired character work, knowing humour and pure, unadulterated geeky FUN he’s so well known for. In conclusion, then, this is MILES AWAY from the clunky, compromised mess it’s been labelled as in some quarters, ultimately still very much in keeping with the high standards set by its trilogy predecessors and EVERY INCH a proper, full-blooded Star Wars movie. Ultimately, Rogue One remains THE BEST of the big screen run since Lucas’ Original Trilogy, but this one still emerges as a Force to be reckoned with …

12. JOKER – no-one was more wary than me when it was first announced that DC and Warner Bros. were going to make a standalone, live-action movie centred entirely around Batman’s ultimate nemesis, the Joker, especially with it coming hot on the heels of Jared Leto’s thoroughly polarizing portrayal in Suicide Squad. More so once it was made clear that this WOULD NOT be part of the studio’s overarching DC Extended Universe cinematic franchise, which was FINALLY starting to find its feet – then what’s the point? I found myself asking. I should have just sat back and gone with it, especially since the finished product would have made me eat a big slice of humble pie had I not already been won over once the trailers started making the rounds. This is something new, different and completely original in the DC cinematic pantheon, even if it does draw major inspiration from Alan Moore’s game-changing DC comics mini-series The Killing Joke – a complete standalone origin story for one of our most enduring villains, re-imagined as a blistering, bruising psychological thriller examining what can happen to a man when he’s pushed far beyond the brink by terrible circumstance, societal neglect and crippling mental illness. Joaquin Phoenix delivers the performance of his career as Arthur Fleck, a down-at-heel clown-for-hire struggling to launch a career as a stand-up-comic (badly hampered by the fact that he’s just not funny) while suffering from an acute dissociative condition and terrible attacks of pathological laughter at moments of heightened stress – the actor lost 52 pounds of weight to become a horrifically emaciated scarecrow painfully reminiscent of Christian Bale’s similar preparation for his acclaimed turn in The Machinist, and frequently contorts himself into seemingly impossible positions that prominently accentuate the fact. Fleck is a truly pathetic creature, thoroughly put-upon by a pitiless society that couldn’t care less about him, driven by inner demons and increasingly compelling dark thoughts to act out in increasingly desperate, destructive ways that ultimately lead him to cross lines he just can’t come back from, and Phoenix gives his all in every scene, utterly mesmerising even when his character commits some truly heinous acts. Certainly he dominates the film, but then there are plenty of winning supporting turns from a universally excellent cast to bolster him along, from Zazie Beetz as an impoverished young mother Arthur bonds with and Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under, American Horror Story) as Arthur’s decidedly fragile mother Penny to Brett Cullen (The Thorn Birds, Lost) as a surprisingly unsympathetic Thomas Wayne (the philanthropic father of future Batman Bruce Wayne), while Robert De Niro himself casts a very long shadow indeed as Murray Franklin, a successful comedian and talk show host that Arthur idolizes, a character intentionally referential to his role in The King of Comedy. Indeed, Martin Scorsese’s influence is writ large throughout the entire film, reinforced by the choice to set the film in a 1981-set Gotham City which feels very much like the crumbling New York of Mean Streets or Taxi Driver. This is a dark, edgy, grim and unflinchingly BRUTAL film, frequently difficult to watch as Arthur is driven further into a blazing psychological hell by his increasingly stricken life, but addictively, devastatingly compelling all the same, impossible to turn away from even in the truly DEVASTATING final act. Initially director Todd Phillips seemed like a decidedly odd choice for the project, hailing as he does from a predominantly comedy-based filmmaking background (most notably Due Date and The Hangover trilogy), but he’s actually a perfect fit here, finding a strangely twisted beauty in many of his compositions and a kind of almost uplifting transcendence in his subject’s darkest moments, while his screenwriting collaboration with Scott Silver (8 Mile, The Fighter) means that the script is as rich as it can be, almost overflowing with brilliant ideas and rife with biting social commentary which is even more relevant today than in the period in which it’s set. Intense, gripping, powerful and utterly devastating, this truly is one of the best films of 2019. If this was a purely critical Top 30 this would have placed in the Top 5, guaranteed …

11. FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS HOBBS & SHAW – summer 2019’s most OTT movie was some of THE MOST FUN I had at the cinema all year, a genuinely batshit crazy, pure bonkers rollercoaster ride of a film I just couldn’t get enough of, the perfect sum of all its baffling parts. The Fast & Furious franchise has always revelled in its extremes, subtle as a brick and very much playing to the blockbuster, popcorn movie crowd right from the start, but it wasn’t until Fate of the Furious (yup, the ridiculous title says it all) that it really started to play to the inherent ridiculousness of its overall setup, paving the way for this first crack at a new spin-off series sans-Vin Diesel. Needless to say this one fully embraces the ludicrousness, with director David Leitch the perfect choice to shepherd it into the future, having previously mastered OTT action through John Wick and Atomic Blonde before helming manic screwball comedy Deadpool 2, which certainly is the strongest comparison point here – Hobbs & Shaw is every bit as loud, violent, chaotic and thoroughly irreverent, definitely playing up the inherent comic potential at the core of the material as he cranks up the humour. Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham take centre stage as, respectively, DSS agent Luke Hobbs and former SAS black operative Deckard Shaw, the ultimate action movie odd couple once again forced to work together to foil the bad guy and save the world from a potentially cataclysmic disaster. Specifically Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), a self-proclaimed “black superman” enhanced with cybernetic implants and genetic manipulation to turn him into the ultimate warrior, who plans to use a lethal designer supervirus to eradicate half of humanity (as supervillains tend to do), but there’s one small flaw in his plan – the virus has been stolen by Hattie Shaw (Mission: Impossible – Fallout’s Vanessa Kirby), a rogue MI6 agent who also happens to be Deckard’s sister. Got all that? Yup, the movie really is as mad as it sounds, but that’s part of the charm – there’s an enormous amount of fun to be had in just giving in and going along with the madness as Hobbs and the two Shaws bounce from one overblown, ludicrously destructive set-piece to the next, kicking plenty of arse along the way when they’re not jumping out of tall buildings or driving fast cars at ludicrous speeds in heavy traffic, and when they’re not doing that they’re bickering with enthusiasm, each exchange crackling with exquisite hate-hate chemistry and liberally laced with hilarious dialogue delivered with gleeful, fervent venom (turns out there’s few things so enjoyable as watching Johnson and Statham verbally rip each other a new one), and the two action cinema heavyweights have never been better than they are here, each bringing the very best performances of their respective careers out of each other as they vacillate, while Kirby holds her own with consummate skill that goes to show she’s got a bright future of her own. As for Idris Elba, the one-time potential future Bond deserves to be remembered as one of the all-time great screen villains ever, investing Brixton with the perfect combination of arrogant swagger and lethal menace to steal every scene he’s in while simultaneously proving he can be just as big a badass in the action stakes; Leitch also scatters a selection of familiar faces from his previous movies throughout a solid supporting cast which also includes the likes of Fear the Walking Dead’s Cliff Curtis, From Dusk Till Dawn’s Eiza Gonzalez and Helen Mirren (who returns as Deckard and Hattie’s mum Queenie Shaw), while there’s more than one genuinely brilliant surprise cameo to enjoy. As we’ve come to expect, the action sequences are MASSIVE, powered by nitrous oxide and high octane as property is demolished and vehicles are driven with reckless abandon when our protagonists aren’t engaged in bruising, bone-crunching fights choreographed with all the flawless skill you’d expect from a director who used to be a professional stuntman, but this time round the biggest fun comes from the downtime, as the aforementioned banter becomes king. It’s an interesting makeover for the franchise, going from heavyweight action stalwart to comedy gold, and it’s a direction I hope they’ll maintain for the inevitable follow-up – barring Fast Five, this is THE BEST Fast & Furious to date, and a strong indicator of how it should go to keep conquering multiplexes in future. Sign me up for more, please.

#frozen 2 #Once Upon A Time In Hollywood #crawl #crawl movie #Shazam!#Alita Battle Angel #ad astra #Brightburn #star wars the rise of skywalker #joker #joker movie #hobbs and shaw #2019 in movies

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waynekelton · 4 years

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GWENT iOS - 13 Tips & Tricks to get you started

It’s already past its one-year anniversary on PC and has been through significant changes but Gwent is finally here on iOS. It is such a timely and refreshing CCG and, sure, it’s a beloved IP and has an incredible amount of visual effects and polish. It’s pretty and feature-rich upon launch, what with resounding audio effects, detailed orchestral scoring and flashy premium card animations.

How do I play Gwent?

What are the microtransactions like?

What are my progression rewards?

How do the different factions work?

What is a Gwentsday?

How does the Arena work, and why should I bother?

What are the optional cosmetics like?

Tell me about seasonal play and limited formats.

How should I spend my time in-game to maximise my rewards?

What makes Gwent different from the competition?

What’s the big fuss about Thronebreaker and where is it?

GWENT Android version?

How do I play GWENT?

What are GWENT's micro-transactions like?

GWENT progression rewards

GWENT Factions

What is a Gwentsday?

How does the Arena work, and why should I bother?

It takes a lot of experience and familiarity with the entire card pool to draft quickly and confidently.

GWENT deckbuilding tips

What are the optional cosmetics like?

GWENT seasonal play and limited formats

How should I spend my time in-game to maximize my rewards?

GWENT vs. Hearthstone vs. everyone else

What’s the big fuss about Thronebreaker and where is it?

GWENT Android version?

As of publication, it is slated for Q1 2020. The iOS version was a long time coming, with several updates and delays, but hopefully since one mobile version is done, the Android version will make its release window. The good news is that both account synchronisation and cross play are working smoothly, though a GoG account is required. Expect a limited beta and then release sooner rather than later.

Do you have any tips of your own, or further question about GWENT? Let us know in the comments!

GWENT iOS - 13 Tips & Tricks to get you started published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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